STATE CAPITOL A STANDARD HISTORY OF Georgia and Georgians By LUCIAN LAMAR KNIGHT ILLUSTRATED VOLUME III THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO : : NEW YORK ' 1917 COPYRIGHT 1917 BY THE LEWIS PUBLISHING Co, PART I GEORGIA IN THE REALM OF ANECDOTE, WIT, HUMOR, EPISODE AND INCIDENT Georgia and Georgians SHELLMAN HEIGHTS: A KOMANCE OP SHERMAN's MARCH On January 1, 1911, there fell a prey to the devouring flames, a splendid old mansion on the Etowah, near Cartersville, Georgia, known as Shellman Heights. It crowned an eminence overlooking the river and represented an investment of several thousands of dollars, not a penny of which, for lack of insurance, could be recovered. Little sur vives to mark the spot; hut associated with it there is a romance of the '60s surpassing anything to be found in the melodramas. Shellman Heights was built in 1861 by Capt. Charles Shellman, and the first mistress of the mansion was one of the most famous belles of her day. As Miss Cecilia Stovall, she spent her summers at West Point, and there she became a prime favorite with the handsome young cadets. The circle of her admirers included two stalwart youths who were destined to attain high honors in the iron days of battle: Joseph Hooker and William Tecumseh Sherman. Both were captivated by this bewitchingly beauti ful Georgia girl. But she married a man from her own section, much to the chagrin of her disappointed lovers. Years elapsed. In the spring of 1864, en route to New Hope Church, where one of the great battles of the campaign was fought, General Sherman and General Hooker both halted at Shellman Heights. General Sherman was the first to arrive. On approaching the mansion .which he was about to ransack, the Federal commander was attracted by the pathetic wail of an old negro woman, who sat at the front entrance and, in accents hysterical with grief and fear, .repeatedly sobbed: "0, Lawd, what's Miss Celia gwine ter do now?" Catching the sound of a name which was once most charmingly familiar to his ear, there flashed across the old soldier's mind a vision of West Point, and, in a tone of inquiry which was not without some touch of tenderness, he inquired: "What is the full name of your mistress? Come, answer me quick." "Her name," replied the distracted servant. "Hit's Miss Cecilia Stovall Shellman." General Sherman started. But instantly a smile broke over his rugged face. "Why, that's my old sweetheart!" exclaimed he; and into the eyes of the man of blood and iron there crept a far away look. . But it was only for. a moment. Tearing a leaf from his note book, the grim warrior hastily scratched the following lines, addressed to Mrs. Shellman: 1273 1274 GEOKGIA AND GEORGIANS '' My dear Madam You once said that you pitied the man who would ever become my foe. My answer was that I would ever protect and shield you. That I have done. Forgive all else. I am but a soldier. "W. T. SHERMAN." Orders were immediately given to the soldiers to replace what they had taken, while a guard was stationed about the mansion to protect it from further molestation. Even iron will melt in the heat of a blaze fervent enough to soften it; and for the sake of an old love affair of his youth, the grim despoiler spared Shellman Heights. Sentiment often crops out in unexpected places. Now and then we find violets growing in the clefts of volcanic rocks. Sherman moved on. Later came Hooker, who learning the same particulars in regard to the ownership of the mansion issued the same order to his troops. It is said that another unsuccessful suitor for the hand of this beautiful southern ^woman was gallant Dick Garnett, a young West Pointer, in charge of the arsenal at Augusta, then the girlhood home of Miss Stovall. To the handsome youth's proposal of marriage, the fair object of his affection was by no means indifferent. But the young girl's father did not favor this match. The lovers were forbidden to meet and the obstinate lass was finally sent to visit relatives in South Carolina. There was probably no objection to the young man himself. The best Virginia blood rippled his veins; but his profession was hazardous and his income small. Mr. Stovall wished to see his daughter wedded to a lord of many acres. In this whim he was gratified. While visiting the Palmetto State, Miss Cecilia smiled on the suit of a gentleman to whom her father interposed no objection arid whose means enabled him to build for his bride the beautiful old home on the Etowah. But the young officer whose suit she was forced to decline always remained true to his first love. He never married; and when he fell on the battlefield of Gettysburg, in 1863, the image of sweet Cecilia Stovall still ruled the heart of Gen. Richard B. Garnett, one of the, bravest soldiers in the army of Northern Virginia.* JEFFERSON DAVIS'S ARREST Two miles from Irwinville, Georgia, in what is today a dense thicket of pines, there occurred at the close of the Civil war an incident concern ing which a host of writers have produced for commercial purposes an endless amount of fiction. It was here, in the gray morning twilight of May 10, 1865, while encamped on land today the property of Judge J. B. Clement, of Irwinville, that Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, was overtaken by the Fourth Regiment of Michigan Cavalry and put under arrest. More than half a century lias elapsed since then: and happidly with the flight of time some of the fairy tales of this dramatic period, when the imagination was inflamed by passion, have been dispelled. To prejudice the popular mind against Mr. Davis and to bring upon him speedily the punishment to which he was exposed * 'Vol. I, "Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends," by L. L. Knight. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1275 by reason of his fallen fortunes, there appeared in the northern papers a story concocted by some evil genius with malice aforethought to the effect that when arrested the President was clad in his wife.'s calico wrapper and that, among other articles of feminine attire which he wore at this time, were a hoop-skirt and a sun-bonnet. Shades of Ananias! The facts are these: Mrs. Davis, with four of her children, left the Confederate capital, under an escort, several days in advance of the final evacuation of Richmond. Mr. Davis followed in the course of a week's time, proceeding southward by slow stages. It was not until Lee and Johnston had both surrendered that he ceased to cherish some hope of ultimate success. After the final meeting of the Confederate Cabinet in AYashington, Georgia, he leisurely resumed his journey toward the trans-Mississippi region, there quietly at home to await results. It was not in the character of a fugitive that he bade adieu to his friends in the little Georgia town; and so deliberate was he in the matter of saying farewell that Dr. H. A. Tupper, an eminent Baptist divine with whom he stopped, turned to Judge Garnett Andrews and said: '' I really believe that Mr. Davis wishes to be captured.'' It is certain that he manifested every sign of indifference, though he must have known that the country was full of armed men who were panting like blood-hounds upon his track. Word having reached him of a conspiracy on the part of desperate men to rob the wagon train in which Mrs. Davis was journeying, he hastened to overtake her, going some distance out of the direct line of travel. Such a change in his plans meant that he was certain to be either arrested or killed; and, turning to the faithful comrades in misfortune who accompanied him, Mr. Davis urged them to feel in nowise bound to attend him upon this hazardous trip. But not a man in the party availed himself of this loop hole to escape danger, , Mrs. Davis, in the course of time, was finally overtaken; and the President, with his party, was preparing to move in advance of her when, just at the hour of dawn, on May 10, 1865, he was suddenly halted. Besides the members of his family there were with Mr. Davis at the time the arrest was made, Postmaster-General John H. Reagan; Captain Moody, of Mississippi, an old friend; Governor Lubbock, of Texas; and two members of his personal staff, Col. Burton Harrison and Col. William, P. Johnston. At this point we will let PostmasterGeneral Reagan continue the thread of the narrative. Says he:' ; "Under cover of the darkness, Colonel Pritchard (a Federal officer) moved to where we were, and posted one battalion in front of us and another across the creek in our rear, and each took the other in the dimness of the morning for Confederates. Both .battalions were armed with repeating rifles and a rapid fusillade occurred between them, with the result that one or two were killed and a few Wounded. When this firing occurred the troops in our front galloped upon us. The major of the regiment reached the place where I and the members of the Pres ident's staff were encamped, about a hundred yards distant from where the President and his family were located. When he approached me I was watching a struggle between two Federal soldiers and Governor 1276 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS Lubbock. They were trying to get his horse and saddle bags away from him and he was holding onto them and refusing to give them up; they threatened to shoot him if he did not, and he replied for he was not as good a Presbyterian then as he is now that they might shoot and be damned but they would not rob him while he was alive and looking on. I had my revolver cocked and in my hand, waiting to see if the shooting was to begin. "Just at this moment the major rode up, the men contending with Lubbock disappeared, and the major asked if I had any arms. I drew my revolver from under the skirt of my coat and said to him, ' I have this.' He observed that I had better give it to him. I knew that they were too many for us and surrendered my pistol. I asked him then if he had not better stop the firing across the creek. He inquired whether it was not our men. I told him that it could not be; that I did not know of an armed Confederate within a hundred miles of us, except our little escort of half a dozen men, who were not then with us. We learned afterwards that they, or the most of them, had been captured at Irwinville. The major rode across the creek and put an end to the skirmish. "When the firing began, President Davis afterwards told me, he supposed it to be the work of the men who were to rob Mrs. Davis's train. So he remarked to his wife: ' Those men have attacked us at last; I will go out and see if I cannot stop the firing; surely I have some authority with the Confederates.' Upon going to the tent door, however, he saw the blue-coats and turned to his wife with the words, 'The Federal cavalry are upon us.' He was made a prisoner of war. "As one of the means of making the Confederate cause odious, the foolish and wicked charge was made that he was captured in woman's clothes; besides which his portrait, showing him in petticoats, was after wards placarded generally in show cases and public places in the North. He was also pictured as having bags of gold on him when captured. This charge is disproven by the circumstances attending his capture. The suddenness of the unexpected attack of the enemy allowed no time for a change of clothes. I saw him a few minutes after his surrender, wearing his accustomed suit of Confederate gray.'' Colonel William P. Johnston confirms the postmaster-general's state ment in regard to the President's apparel. Says he: "Mr. Davis was dressed as usual. He had on a knit woolen visor, which he always wore at night for neuralgia; and his cavalry boots. He complained of chilli ness, saying that some one had taken away his raglan or spring overcoit, sometimes called a waterproof. I had one exactly similar, except in color. I went to look for it and either I, or some one at my instance, found it and he wore it afterwards. His own was not restored." Gov ernor Lubbock testifies to the same effect. Mr. James H. Parker, of Elburnville, Pennsylvania, a Federal soldier who witnessed the arrest, makes this statement: "I am no adftiirer of Jeff Davis. I am a Yankee, full of Yankee prejudice; but I think it wicked to lie about him or even about the devil. He did not have on at the time he was taken any such garment as is worn by women. He did have over his shoulders a waterproof article of clothing, something like a Havelock. It was not GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1277 in the least concealed. He wore a hat and did not carry a pail of water on his head." Mr. T. H. Peabody, a lawyer of St. Louis, one of the captors of Mr. Davis, declared in a speech before Ransom Post, of the G. A. R., that the hoop-skirt story was purely a fabrication of newspaper reporters. So the whole affair resolves itself into something like the compliment which an old parson paid one of his deacons in the churcti: "Said Parson Bland to Deacon Bluff, Seated before the fire: 'Deacon, I like you well enough, But you're an awful liar.' " * How THE TEXAN FLAG ORIGINATED It is a well authenticated fact that the famous "Lone Star" flag of Texas was born on the soil of Georgia. This beautiful emblem, which was destined to .win historic immortality at Goliad, was designed by a young lady of Crawford County, in this state: Miss Joanna E. Troutman. The following account has been condensed from a brief history of the flag, written by Macon's pioneer historian, Mr. John C. Butler, who was thoroughly conversant with the facts. His story is corroborated by an article recently found in an old copy of the Galveston News. Says Mr. Butler: "On November 12, 1835, a public meeting was held in Macon. Rob ert Augustus Beall, John Rutherford, and Samuel M. Strong were among the speakers who endorsed the claims of Texas, Lieutenant Hugh M. McLeod, from West Point, addressed the meeting in a spirited appeal, pledging himself to resign his commission and to embark as a volunteer. He declared that what Texas needed was soldiers not resolutions. " Captain Levi Eckley, commander of the Bibb Cavalry, presided, with Simri Rose as secretary. Colonel William A. Ward, of Macon, pro posed to form a company of infantry to enlist in the Army of Texas, whereupon thirty-two gentlemen came forward and enrolled as volun teers. On motion, the chair appointed General R. A. Beall, Colonel H. G. Lamar, Colonel T. G. Holt, James A. Nisbet, Esq., and Dr. Robert Collins, a committee to solicit subscriptions; and before the meeting adjourned $3,150 was handed in to the committee, Dr. Collins paying in cash the greater part of the amount. "As the company passed through other towns en route to Texas other recruits were added. At Knoxville, in Crawford County, Miss Joanna E. Troutman afterwards Mrs. Vinson a daughter of Hiram B'. Troutman, made and sent a beautiful banner of white silk, with a blue lone star upon it, to Lieutenant McLeod to present to the company at Columbus. The following is a copy of the letter acknowledging the receipt of the flag: " ' COLUMBUS, GA., November 23, 1835. " 'Miss JOANNA: " 'Colonel Ward brought your handsome and appropriate flag as a present to the Georgia Volunteers in the cause of Texas and Liberty. ' Vol. I, '' Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends," by L. L. Knight. 1278 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS I was fearful from the shortness of the time that you would not be able to finish it as tastefully as you would wish, but I assure you, without an emotion of flattery, it is beautiful, and with us the value is enhanced by the recollection of the donor. I thank you for the honor of being the medium of presentation to the company; and, if they are what every true Georgian ought to be, your flag will yet wave over fields of victory in defiance of despotism. I hope the proud day may soon arrive, and while your star presides none can doubt of success. " 'Very respectfully your friend, Signed: " 'Hirei-i "This patriotic standard, made in Crawford County, by Miss Troutman, became renowned in the history of the gallant young republic as the first flag of the Lone Star State ever unfurled on Texas soil! As they were not permitted to organize within the limits of the United States, Colonel Ward proceeded with his followers to Texas, where they were organized according to regulations. He gathered about one hun dred and twenty men who were formed into three companies. These were then organized into a battalion, the officers of which were: Wil liam A. Ward, major; William J. Mitehell, surgeon; David I. Holt, .quartermaster; and Henderson Cozart, assistant quartermaster. The captains were: W. A. 0. Wadsworth, James C. Winn and Uriah J. Bulloch. "After several engagements with the Mexicans, the battalion joined the command of Colonel Pannin and formed a regiment by electing Fannin colonel and Ward lieutenant-colonel. The regiment numbered five hundred and was stationed at Fort Goliad. On March 13, 1836, the original battalion, under Ward, was sent thirty miles to the relief of Captain King who had thirty men protecting a number of families in the neighborhood of a church at the mission of Refugio. On the arrival of the battalion, they found Captain King surrounded by a large force i of Mexicans who disappeared on discovering that he was re-enforced. Afterwards, on leaving the mission, King, with his command, was cap tured and killed. '' Re-enforced to the number of fourteen hundred men, the Mexicans then intercepted Ward, who retired to the church. Breast-works were made by the battalion of pews, grave-stones, fences and other things, and the fire of the Mexicans was resisted for two days, with a loss to the enemy of one hundred and fifty men, and of only six to the Ameri cans. But the ammunition of the battalion was exhausted on the third day of the battle, when Colonel Ward was reluctantly forced to capitu late, signing the regular articles according to the rules of war. "It was stipulated that the battalion would be returned to'the United States in eight days. Colonel Fannin, in the meantime, sent four differ ent couriers to ascertain the cause of Ward's delay, each of whom was captured and shot by the Mexicans. The latter were again heavily reenforced and advanced upon Fort Goliad. Ward's battalion was in cluded in this massacre, having been brought in as prisoners of war. "From an old copy of the Galveston News the following account is taken: ' The flag of the Lone Star which was first unfurled in Texas GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1279 was borne by the Georgia battalion, commanded by the late LieutenantColonel AYard, who with almost his entire command was massacred at Goliad, in the spring of 1836, in what is known as "Fannin's Massacre," he being next in command to the lamented Colonel James W. Pannin. The flag was presented to Colonel Ward's command as they passed through Knoxville, Crawford County, Ga., by the beautiful Miss Joanna E. Troutman. It was made of plain white silk, bearing an azure star of five points. On one. side was the inscription in rich but chaste colors: "Liberty or Death"; and, on the other, the patriotic Latin motto : "Ubi Liber tas habitat, ibi nostra patria est." ' "The flag was .first unfurled at Velasco on January 8, 1836. It floated to the breeze from the same liberty pole with the first flag of Independence which had just been brought from Goliad by the valorous Captain William Brown. What became of the flag of Independence we do not know, but the beautiful star of azure was borne by Fannin's regi ment to Goliad,'and there gracefully floated from the staff. On March' 8, 1836, an express arrived at Goliad from Washington, oil the Brazos, officially announcing that the convention then in session had formally made solemn declaration that Texas was no longer a Mexican province but a free and independent republic. "Amid the roar of artillery, the beautiful 'Banner of the Lone Star' was hoisted to the top off the flag staff, where it proudly streamed over the hoary ramparts and the time-shattered battlements of La Bahia. But just as the sunset gun was fired and the usual attempt was made to lower the colors, by some unlucky mishap, the beautiful silk banner be came entangled in the halyards and was torn to pieces. Only a small fragment remained adjusted to the flag staff; and when Colonel Fannin evacuated Goliad to join General Houston, in accordance with received' orders, the last remnant of the first 'Flag of the Lone Star' was still fluttering at the top of the staff from which first-floated the flag of Texari Independence. "With the capture of Santa Anna, at the battle of San Jacinto, the silver service of the wily commander was also captured, and some of the trophies of victory, including his massive forks and spoons, were forwarded by General Rusk to Miss Troutman, in token of the regard which this Georgia lady had inspired in the stern, scarred patriots of the Revolution. On the meeting of the first Congress, the Flag of the Lone Star was adopted as the flag of the Republic and the seals of office ordered engraved with the star upon them. The public recognition of the ma ternity of the first Flag of the Lone Star as belonging to Georgia was made by General Memmican Hunt, the first minister from the Republic of Texas to the United States." * How A FAMOUS BALLAD CAME TO BE WRITTEN In the opinion of many competent literary critics, a war poem which deservedly ranks among the finest ballads in the English language is "Little Giffen of Tennessee." The author of this poem, Dr. Frank 0. Ticknor, was an eminent physician of Columbus, Georgia, and, in making * Arol. I, '' Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends," by L. L. Knight. 1280 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS the rounds of his country practice, he often anmsed himself by dashing off spirited lines, not a few of which were-written on the backs of pre scription blanks. Doctor Ticknor's verses, while lacking, perhaps, in literary finish, are full of lyric fire. Most of them are merely song skele tons, but they possess a rhythm most captivating to the ear. "Little Giffen" was written during the last year of the war. The circumstances which led to its composition are narrated in the following graphic sketch from the pen of Col. Charles J. Swift, a resident of the City of Colum bus and a prominent member of the Georgia bar. It is the first authentic version of the story which has yet appeared in print. Says Colonel Swift: "After the battle of Chickamauga, there was continual fighting be tween the two hostile armies from Dalton to the Chattahoochie River. The pressure of the advancing enemy was persistent, but at every stand he was opposed by the stubborn resistance of the retreating foe, under Gen. Johnston, who adopted the tactics of the famous Roman general Pabius Maximus, in order to draw Gen. Sherman from his base of sup plies. Gen. Johnston was removed in the summer of 1864, and the determination of what the final issue of his plans might have been has become purely a matter of speculation. "Gen. Hood succeeded Gen. Johnston in command. Subsequent to the battles of Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, etc., the cities and towns which could be conveniently reached by train from Atlanta began to receive a great many sick and wounded Confederate soldiers. These increased as Johnston's army approached Atlanta, and the battles be tween Hood and Sherman caused every available building in these cities and towns,to be converted into Confederate hospitals. One of these in Columbus was the old Banks building on the east side of Broad street, nearly opposite the fire engine house. One of the inmates of this hospital was a mere youth, so badly wounded in one of his legs, that gangrene had supervened. "Dr. Carlisle Terry, then and afterwards a leading physician of Columbus, was the general surgeon in charge of the hospitals. Mrs. Evelyn P. Carter, Mrs. W. D. Woolfolk and Mrs. Rosa N. Ticknor were sisters, who, with other ladies of Columbus, made frequent visits to the hospitals to minister to the sick a-nd wounded. These sisters were the daughters of Major Thos. M. Nelson, formerly of Virginia, -and related to the Byrds, Pages and Nelsons, who have been distinguished in the Old Dominion from the earliest Colonial days. "In going through the old Banks building hospital, Mrs. Ticknor and her sisters came to the cot on which was lying the wounded youth. He was very young, and was wasted away to a mere skeleton, and so weak and emaciated that he seemed more dead than alive. Moved by an unusual sympathy and motherly tenderness that the sacrifice of war and the toll of battle should include one so young, they asked permission to remove him and to take him to one of their homes. Dr. Terry looked at the apparently dying soldier lad and consented to his removal but said somewhat sardonically to the visitors, that they would probably be put to the trouble of sending him back dead, in a day or two. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1281 "Following these preliminaries at the hospital, Newton Giffen was taken to the home of Dr. and Mrs. Ticknor, at Torch Hill, five miles south of Columbus. For days and nights the unequal struggle went on, between the faintest signs of life in the patient and the gangrenous poison which pervaded his system. But Torch Hill was on the heights where the breezes were refreshing and the air pure and balmy, and there 'Little Giffen' had a physician's attention and the gentlest nursing from the host, her sisters, and others in this Southern home. When he had somewhat advanced toward recovery he told them that he was New ton Giffen from East Tennessee, where his mother was still living; that he could neither read nor write; that since he had enlisted in the army he had been in eighteen battles and had been wounded seriously for the first time by the one which had brought him to his present affliction. "Dr. Douglas C. Ticknor, son of the poet, is now a practicing phy sician in Columbus. To avoid seeming anachronisms in the recital, this Dr. Ticknor will be in several places spoken of as Douglas. He was about six years younger than Newton Giffen, but as the eldest of the Ticknor children, he well remembers the request his mother and aunts made to take Newton from the hospital, and he has never forgotten his impressions of Dr. Terry's manner and expression, betokening the utter uselessness of the change to save the life of the patient. "At Torch Hill, Newton's improvement was slow and protracted. When he was able to sit up and to prop himself on his elbow, he took his first daily lessons in the art of reading and writing. This latter accom plishment enabled him to pen his first letter to his mother far away in the wilderness of her Tennessee mountain home. The second letter was to his captain. The one written to his mother probably never reached its destination, but the one to his captain did, and the answer was almost literally as the poem has it. When Newton was able to get out of doors, he and Douglas Ticknor were good chums and companions. The latter recalls that Newton was very industrious, gave a great deal of attention to the wrapping of the apple trees to keep the rabbits from eating the bark, and that both of them went forth on occasions to pick blackberry leaves to make green tea. Dr. Douglas Ticknor describes Newton as hav ing very light hair, fair complexion, of unusual tallness for his age, and very thin. "Before he had entirely recovered, Newton received a letter from his captain urging him to return to his company at the earliest possible moment. On receipt of this letter, Newton made preparations for an immediate start. He -bade a tearful farewell to Dr. and Sirs. Ticknor and all the members of the family and promised, if spared, to write to them. His manly character and bearing, his sincerity and gratitude, left no room for doubt that he would write at the first opportunity; but no letter ever came. Hence the inference by those who were looking for a letter from their former charge, that he had been killed in the first engagement after his return to the front. This is the only statement in the poem which cannot be positively substantiated. All others are actual facts go much so, indeed, that when Dr. Ticknor wrote 'Little Giffen,' he read the first draft of it to Mrs. Ticknor and was about to tear it up, 1282 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS remarking 'it was too true to be good poetry.' Mrs. Ticknor interposed and saved the poem from destruction. '' On the morning when Newton Giffen left Torch Hill on his way to his company, passage was taken on an old gray army horse, Newton riding in front and Douglas riding behind. Getting near to Bull Creek bridge, about half way between Torch Hill and Columbus, they found the waters of the creek at flood height and covering all the lower lands on the side of their approach to the bridge. The old horse, getting a little off the road where the water covered it, fell into a big washout and in struggling to extricate themselves, both of the boys were unhorsed, and came near being swept down the stream and drowned. Douglas Ticknor and the horse got ashore on the side next to home. 'Little Giffen' was carried by the current to a point where he gained a footing close to the bridge. About the time the excitement and danger was over, a negro drove up with a four-mule team on his way to Columbus. He kept in the track of the submerged road and met with no mishap such as that to the boys and the old gray horse. With no other possession than his dripping and muddy clothes, 'Little Giffen' climbed into the four-horse wagon and standing up waved a last farewell to his friend, Douglas, on the other side of the raging waters. / "It is said by some that Newton, was wounded in the battle of Murfreesboro. However, it is more probable that he was wounded in the bat tle of Cbickamauga, Sept. 10, 1863. This would not be inconsistent with the order of time belonging to the events of which the poem treats. The letter that Newton received urging his return, was very likely co-eval with the general order by Johnston for his officers and captains to get every man back to his command -who might be able to return. "Many of the surviving veterans of the army of Tennessee under Johnston remember the urgency of these recalls. It is very well estab lished that 'Little Giffen's' name was.Isaac Newton Giffen, and that his father was a blacksmith. He was brought to Columbus in September, 1863. and left Torch Hill in March, 1864. The big overflow at Bull creek bridge was presumably from the equinoctial storm, "Johnston took command of the army of Tennessee in December, 1864. The winter having ended, the operations known as the DaltonAtlanta campaign commenced in the spring, after this; and it is more than likely that in making readiness for this campaign, 'Little Giffen' and other absentees received notices to return to the front. Dr. Ticknor was born in Jones county, Georgia, and in 1874 he died in Columbus, Ga., in his fifty-second year: He is buried in -Linwood cemetery, in Columbus. Mrs. Ticknor is in her eightieth year (1909), and is living in Albany, Ga,, with her son, Mr. Thos. M. Ticknor."* Such in brief is the history of this famous ballad whose exquisite versification has charmed the ears of thousands on both sides of the water. The poem has been translated into numerous foreign tongues. Though written at random, in the nervous style of one whose time was largely consumed by the weighty cares of his profession and whose ' Vol. I, '' Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends," by L. L. Knight. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1283 incense to the muses was offered at odd intervals, this unpremeditated song is nevertheless one of the gems of the war period of American let ters. It is practically certain that Little Giffen fell in battle soon after leaving Torch Hill. The character of the lad, his promise to write if spared, the kindness which was lavished upon him by devoted friends, the sense of gratitude which he must have felt for favors received, and the long silence which followed his departure, these preclude the suppo sition that he could possibly have survived the clash into which he again plunged. Doubtless he was numbered among the unknown dead in one of the battles which occurred soon thereafter; but Doctor Ticknor has happily rescued the lad's name from oblivion and blazed it immortally upon the heights of song. HISTORY OF "MARYLAND, MY MARYLAND" It is not the least among the favors which Fortune has showered upon Augusta that it was long the home of the gifted poet who wrote the immortal war lyric, "Maryland, My Maryland." James Ryder Randall, its author, though a Marylander by birth, was a Georgian by adoption. For many years he was an editorial writer on the staff of the famous Chronicle, and today his ashes rest in Augusta's beautiful city of the dead. Mr. Randall was educated at Georgetown, D. C.; afterwards he taught for a while in Poydras College, in Louisiana, and then he drifted to New Orleans. On account of hemorrhages frorii the lungs he was mustered out of the service soon after enlistment in 1861; but there was not a soldier in the ranks who possessed more of the fire of battle. He resided for a "brief period in Anniston, Alabama, where he edited the Hot-Blast; but, to quote a terse commentator, '' for Randall to be at the head of a journal devoted to such hard facts as pig iron looks to us like putting Saladin to carving gate-pegs with a scimitar.'' Mr. Randall was at one time private secretary to Congressman Wil liam IT. Fleming, of Georgia, afterwards to Sen. Joseph B. Brown; and, during this period, he was brought into close personal contact with many national celebrities. His Washington letters were widely copied and arestill replete with interest to the student of politics. Says Prof. Matthew Page Andrews, his accredited biographer:*' "Except for these visits to Washington, Randall established himself, for forty years or more, far from his native city and State. But in 1907, under the auspices of the appreciative Edwin Warfield, then Governor of Maryland, a plan was suggested for the official recognition and ma terial support of the poet who had so immortalized his State in song. He was the guest of the city of Baltimore in the home-coming festivities of 1907. He renewed his friendship with the Hon. William Pinkney White, then at the age of 84, an active member of the United States Senate, who made arrangements for the publication of his poems, the compilation of which his later and most devoted friend, Miss Lilian McGregor Shepherd alone was able to induce him seriously to begin. To her was penned his last words of longing for his native State of Mary- * The '' Poems of James Eyder BandaH,'' edited by Matthew Page Andrews, New York, 1910. Introduction. 1284 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS land, written from Augusta and received by her on the day of his death. Sustained by an unfaltering religious faith, he had no fear of dying, but his days had been the days of a dreamer, buffeted by a sea of troubles. He gave the best he had to his friends; his life to his home and family; to his native State an immortal name; and to the English language per haps the greatest of all battle-hymns." Professor Andrews thus narrates the circumstances under which the famous song was composed. Says he: "The date was April 23, 1861. Mr. Kandall was then at Poydras College, in Louisiana. The poem was inspired during the sleepless night which followed the reading of an account of the clash between the citi zens of Baltimore and the Sixth Massachusetts marching through the city to Southern soil, in which the first citizen to fall was a friend and college mate of the poet. Kandall was then but twenty-two years of age. Poy dras College was a tolerably well-endowed Creole institution at PointCoupee. But subsequent fires have destroyed every object associated with the writing of 'Maryland, My Maryland,' from the desk of the poet-teacher to the buildings of the college itself. The morning after the composition was finished the poet read it to his English classes, who received it with enthusiasm. Upon being urged to publish it, the youth ful instructor at once sent the manuscript to the New Orleans Delta, where it first appeared on April 26, 1861; and from this paper the words were reprinted by newspapers throughout the Southern States. "In Maryland the poem was first published several weeks later in a paper, the South, established in Baltimore by Thomas W. Hall, who was shortly thereafter confined in Fort Warren for spreading such seditious sentiments. It was published in various forms in the poet's native city of Baltimore, where it was evident that a majority of the leading people, through close association with Southerners in business and social relations, sympathized with the South and were bitterly op posed to the intended coercion of the seceding States. While the words and sentiments of the song thrillmgly appealed to Southern sympathizers, the music lovers of Baltimore saw in the swing and melody of the verse unexampled opportunity for some immediate musical adaptation in song. Henry C. Wagner, of the poet's native city, was the first to sing it to the tune of 'Ma Nonnandie,' then a familiar air. But though the French language was the means of starting the poem upon its melodious song-life, it was through the medium of the German that it reached the final form in which it now appears. "Among the famous beauties of Baltimore in 1861 were the Gary sisters, to whose home as loyal Southerners 'My Maryland' soon came. The fiery appeal to Southern valor was declaimed again and again by one of these, Miss Jennie Gary, to her sister Hettie, with the expressed intention of finding an appropriate musical accompaniment for the verses; and this search was continued until the popular 'Lauriger Horatius' was tried and thereupon adopted. The risk of reducing it to pub lication was somewhat serious, but Miss Rebecca Lloyd Nicholson spoke out: ' I will have it published. . My father is a Union man, and if I am put in prison, he will take me out.' She then took 'Lauriger Hora- GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1285 tins' in a Yale song-book to her father's house near-by; and after copy ing the music carried it to Miller and Beacham. They supplied her with the first copies from the press, besides sending her other songs until they were arrested and put in prison." There were some minor variations made in the text to fit the music. Says Miss Jennie Gary: '' The addi tional 'My Maryland' was a musical necessity and it came to me as a sort of inspiration." It has been stated that Mr. Rozier Dulaney, of Baltimore, originally proposed this addition; but to Miss Gary belongs the credit. According to Professor Andrews it was furthermore an extraordinary coincidence that the young girl, Miss Rebecca Lloyd Nicholson,* who undertook to have the song published on her own responsibility, should have been the grand-daughter of Judge Joseph H. Nicholson, whose wife, Rebecca Lloyd, figured so largely in adapting '' The Star Spangled Ban ner" to the tune of "Anacreon in Heaven," and who had it published in musical form. Says he: "The grand-daughter carried the words and music of 'Maryland, My Maryland' to the publishers in 1861 as her 'grand-mother had done with the 'Star-Spangled Banner' nearly fifty years before.'' Subsequently Charles Ellerbrock, a young German music teacher and a southern sympathizer, changed the musical adaptation of '' My Maryland'' from the Yale song to the statelier measure of its origi nal, "Tannenbaum, 0 Tannenbaum"; and in this way it was finally per fected.! Subsequent to .the first battle of Manassas, the famous war-lyric was rendered for the first time at the headquarters of General Beauregard, near Fairfax Court House, Virginia, by the Gary sisters, on July 4, 18614 Oliver Wen dell Holmes pronounced "Maryland, My Maryland" the finest anthem produced 6y the Civil war. He is also said to have placed it among the very foremost of the world's martial lyrics. But while the author's fame will rest undoubtedly upon this gem, there are many com petent critics who consider his '' Resurgam'' in no wise inferior. To this number belongs ex-Congressman William H. Fleming, who places it, in point of merit, even, above Cardinal Newman 's '' Lead Kindly Light.'' Though importuned'to cast his lot in the North, where larger salaries were offered, Randall refused to leave his beloved Southland. He often felt the pinch of adverse fortune, but he was never charmed by the glitter of gold. It is of interest to note that Randall was the first to plead effectively the cause of an American memorial to Edgar Allan Poe, and to his loyal pen is due the hastening, in some degree at least,, of the final reward into which the .author of the "Raven" has at last come. If there * Miss Nicholson, through her relationship to Francis Scott Key, inherited the original manuscript of '' The Star Spangled Banner,'' written on the back of an envelope. M. P. Andrews.' Introduction to Bandall's Poems, p. 15. t '' Songs of the Civil War.'' The Century, August, 1886. t "It has been affirmed that Mr. Randall received $100 for 'Maryland, My Mary land,' and the statement has been widely quoted. The fact is that an appreciative reader and friend sent him, as author of the poem, some time after its publication, $100 in Confederate currency, with which he may possibly have been able to pur chase a pair of shoes, but he did not solicit or receive direct compensation for any of his poems, a statement which, in all probability, can be recorded of no other modern poet of genius or reputation." Vol. Ill 2 1286 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS are notes of bitterness in the great war-lyric of Randall, they were wrung from his loving heart by the passionate hour in which they were penned. He was himself the apostle of tenderness; and one needs only to turn to the poems of Whittier to find that the gentle Quaker bard of New Eng land has indulged in no less caustic terms. There can be no doubt that the poem will live. The breath of immortality is in its lines, and the fame of Randall is secure even from death itself.* BARNSLEY GARDENS : A LOST ARCADIA Six miles from Kingston, Georgia, may still be seen the picturesque ruins of a palatial old southern home of the ante-bellum days. It is a sort of Alhambra, not unlike the wasted citadel of the Moors. The locality is today known by the name of Barnsley Gardens; and, standing amid the pathetic remnants of this old estate, once feudal in magnifi cence, it is not difficult for the imagination to picture here a castle, with ivy-covered walls, such as might have overlooked the Rhine or the Danube in the Middle Ages. To a resident of Kingston, Miss Belle Bayless, who has often visited this historic spot, we are indebted for the following brief account: "Three-quarters of a century ago, Mr. Godfrey Barnsley, one of Savannah's captains of industry, decided to establish such an estate as he remembered to have seen in England, his native land. So he pur chased from the Cherokee Indians 10,000 acres of ground in what is now the county of Bartow. Gradually he cleared away the forest and tixrned the red hills into cotton fields and built a stately manor house where it overlooked a magnificent sweep of country, reaching far back until blue hills merged into bluer skies. He then planted around it the famous gardens which for two generations have been a. Mecca for pleasure seek ers and holiday excursionists in this part of Georgia, "To embellish the gardens, rare trees and shrubs and plants were brought hither from the most remote corners of the earth. Some of these still flourish amid the decay into which everything else has fallen. Hem locks and spruces from Norway may still be seen brushing the old ter races with verdant branches of evergreen. Scotch rowans glow with scarlet berries in the autumn. Lindens and other foreign shade trees vie with those of the native woods in adding pieturesqueness to the naturally beautiful location; while great lichen-covered boulders, hauled by oxteams from the surrounding mountain-tops, form rookeries on either side of the main entrance to the grounds. The drive-way sweeps up the long hill and around the box-bordered area which encloses a central foun tain just in front of an embroidered terrace. Mr. Barnsley, like his forebears, built always with an eye to the future and did not hasten his work. So the Civil War came on before the interior of the house was finished and the gold which he had sent to England came back to reenforce the coffers of the Confederate government. "Domestic industries were fostered on this baronial estate of Mr. Barnsley; for not only the manor house itself but the quarters for serv ants and the small office buildings on the estate were constructed of brick ^ * Vol. I, "Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends," by L. L. Knight. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1287 made by slave labor from materials found on the plantation. The pala tial old home place was divided into three parts the central being two stories in height and surmounted by a tower. The main entrance to the house was approached by marble steps. On either side of the hallway were spacious drawing rooms, libraries, and the like, with sleeping apart ments above, sixteen in all. The right wing contained an immense dining room or banquet hall, on the first floor, besides billiard and smoking rooms, with kitchen, store rooms, and cellars below. The left wing was used for temporary residence purposes while the rest of the building was in process of erection. The owner was not to be deprived of any of the luxuries of life merely because he lived in the country; so, on the tower, a cistern was built to which pipes were laid and a reservoir constructed in one of the chimneys to furnish hot water for the lava tories. Plans were also made for lighting the house by means of a gas made from resinous pine. '' In the rear of the manor house is another terrace; and here we find a ghost walk, for a castle without a promenade for spooks at the witching hour of midnight is romantically incomplete. Just over the brow of the hill is the grave of Colonel Earl, a Confederate officer, who was buried on the spot where he fell during the Civil War. Relatives .came to re move his body but they could get no one to dig into the earth, so strong was the superstitious feeling among the mountaineers; and even to this day the locality furnishes material for weird tales among the country folks. "At the foot of the slope is one of the prettiest spots in which the imagination could possibly revel. It is the ivy-covered spring-house set against the out-cropping gray rock. Inside a bold spring bubbles up and finds its way out and across the fields, where it becomes a good-sized stream. And who could wish better dairy products than the milk and butter cooled in such pure water ? One can almost fancy here a sprightly Lady Betty presiding over the burnished vessels and scolding her maids for some trivial neglect; or more realistic still, Madame Barnsley nee Miss Scarlett, one of the South's great beauties standing in the shadow of the half-circle of live-oaks about the door, directing her servants as does her grand-daughter, the present chatelaine. "But Mr. Barnsley, in gratifying his artistic tastes, did not stop with plants and flowers for his extensive grounds. He was also an industrious collector of rare "curios, objects of virtu, costly bric-a-brac, and expensive ornaments. His mahogany dining-table which was large enough to seat forty people and his elegant side-board, which was of equally generous proportions, were made for Emperor Dom Pedro of Brazil. The gilt library clock once belonged to Marie Antoinette; and an exquisite mar quetry table, together with several delicate wood carvings, had bits of history connected with them. Over the dining room fire-place hung a rare painting. Its wealth of color undimmed by several centuries and its resemblance to Murillo's Madonnas told of the influence of the great Spanish master; while a built-in vault contained a quantity of family silver. In one of the bed-rooms was a mahogany bed-stead of huge pro portions, but the four eagles intended to surmount the posts stood demurely in a corner, for not even the high ceiling of this spacious 1288 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS boudoir would permit them to occupy the places intended for them as guardians of the curtains of yellow satin damask. Wardrobe and dresser matched the bed, all heavy, hand-carved and handsome. "But these, together with a quantity of rare old wine, were taken to New York a decade ago and sold, the dealers paying only a song for what was worth almost a king's ransom. "Today the Last Sigh of the Moor seems aptly to fit the old place. Time has wrought fearful havoc. The Barnsley household has scattered to every continent on the globe; a cyclone unroofed the main house years ago; members of a vandal picnic party daubed tar over the front walls, while others amused themselves by shattering- window panes; and the one time immaculate flower beds are now waist-high in weeds. It is well nigh impossible to maintain so large an establishment now-a-days, when labor for necessary work can scarcely be obtained for love or money; but rich minerals recently discovered on the property may yet provide the means not only for making needed repairs but for realizing the splendid dream of the founder of Barnsley Gardens." * THE MARK HANNA HOME: WHERE THE McKiNLEY PRESIDENTIAL BOOM WAS LAUNCHED Many years have elapsed since the political wheel of fortune rotated William McKinley into the White House in AVashington; but the world has not forgotten the meteoric campaign of 1896. It was an epoch-mak ing fight. The tall figure of the peerless Ncbraskan in this heated contest began to loom for the first time across the western plains. His conquest of the Chicago convention was the wonder of modern politics. Nothing to equal the dramatic effect of his marvelous "Cross of Gold" speech has even been known-in the history of conventions. To this very day there are democrats in every part of the Union who look upon Bryan as a mere dreamer, who deplore the great scenic battle which he waged for free silver, at the famous ratio of sixteen to one, who call him an apostle of discontent, and who belittle his splendid abilities. But the fact remains that he was the herald of a new era in national politics. Nor can it be gainsaid that the campaign of 1896 was the cradle of the present-day progressive movement. Mr. Bryan's eloquence lashed the masses into a frenzy of enthusiasm. The spell of his personality was felt in the crowded centers of population and-in the sparsely settled rural districts. The money power was panic-stricken with alarm. Wall Street stood aghast, The program of the republican organization seemed to be queered. And altogether it is doubtful if there has ever been a campaign in which the rattle of coin has played a more spectacular part; but despite the combined activities of the trusts to defeat him Bryan might still have been elected President of the United States had it not been for the shrewd generalship of a man to whom the country at large still needed an introduction when the campaign opened, but whose name was destined to become a household word in every hamlet Marcus A. Hanna. On North Dawson Street, in the City of Thomasville, stands the historic winter home in which, according to every sign of the zodiac, were * Vol. I, "Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends," by L. L. Knight. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1289 laid the plans, the outcome of which was Mr. Bryan's undoing. It seems a trifle singular that the state which put Mr. Bryan in nomination at Chicago, under circumstances, which no one can ever forget, should fur nish an asylum to1 his most inveterate enemies, wherein they might intrigue to compass his defeat. But while this little by-play of politics was in Georgia, it was not of Georgia. It came from a source entirely outside and remote. Mr. Hanna was a practical business man of large wealth whose business operations ramified the whole State of Ohio and brought him rich returns from commercial traffic on the Great Lakes. lie was also something of a slate-maker in Buckeye politics. For years Mr. Hanna had been an intimate personal friend to Major McKinley, a creditor, so it is said, for certain large sums of money, which the latter had borrowed from him, without compromise of honor; and it was due almost solely to the adroit manipulation of this masterful strategist that the nomination of Major McKinley then governor of Ohio was accom plished at St. Louis. The next move on the political chessboard was the reciprocal act of the nominee in choosing his campaign manager; and finally to end the game, there was to be a seat for Mr. Hanna in the President's cabinet; or, what he most desired the coveted toga. Worthy the brain of a Richelieu was this brilliant strategy of the Ohio coal baron. Without going into details, it is the commonly accepted belief that the whole plan of campaign which resulted in putting Governor McKin ley into the White House was concocted in the Town of Thomasville, among the fragrant pines of the Georgia lowlands. During Mr. Hanna's occupancy of the North Dawson Street mansion, in the winter of 1895-96, Mr. McKinley was an honored guest of the Hannas; and thither also flocked other members of the Grand Old Party whose love for the game of politics was not only well-known but notorious. As pre-arranged, the nomination of Mr. McKinley took place in June and his election to the presidency followed in November. For a time the issue hung in sus pense. The Nebraskan's fiery eloquence threatened to upset the plans of Mr. Hanna. It was furthermore discovered, after the nomination was made, that it took place on the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, a coincidence which viewed in connection with the nominee's marked facial resemblance to Napoleon, caused some forebodings in the repub lican ranks. But if there was any virtue in the omen, it only served to bring him Wellington's luck. Mr. Hanna was the best advertised man in the country, while the campaign lasted, due chiefly to the famous cartoons of Homer Davenport, in which some of his physical peculiarities were most amusingly caricatured and he was made to vaunt himself in clothes bespangled with the omnipresent dollar-mark. Meeting the artist one day when the fight was over, Mr. Hanna said to him: '' Davenport, I admire your execution, but hang your conception.'' It was under the terms of a lease from the owners that Mr. Hanna occupied the North Dawson Street mansion during the winter which preceded Mr. McKinley's election. The house was leased in the follow ing year to Judge Lynde Harrison, one of the executors of H. B. Plant, the founder of the Plant system of railroads. Since then the historic place of abode has remained unoccupied. It is owned by the estate of the late John W. Masury, of New York, a formerly well-known manu- 1290 GEORGIA AND. GEORGIANS facturer of paints. By reason of the fact that the building is supposed to have played a stellar part in the eventful campaign of 1896, it has become the most conspicuous land-mark in Thomasville : an object of very great interest of sight-seers and of no small local pride to the inhabitants of the town. Some of the statements herein made may be purely con jectural; but sifting the chaff from the wheat it still remains that Mr. I-Ianna leased the Thomasville home for the winter season preceding Mr. McKinley's nomination; that he here played the host not only to Mr. McKinley himself but to some of the big political king-bees of the repub lican party who came here to buzz; and that when the election was over he quietly stepped from a business office on the lake front, in the City of Cleveland, Ohio, to a seat of historic renown in the American House of Peers.* How MR. BKYAN SECURED His NOMINATION IN 1896 As the result of a single speech delivered with marvelous oratorical effect, at an opportune moment, in the famous Chicago convention of 1896, William J. Bryan made himself the standard-bearer of the National Democracy in. three separate presidential campaigns, and shaped the history of the democratic party in the nation for more than a score of years. But it was due largely to the prompt initiative and to the bugletoned eloquence of a gifted Georgian that his.nomination for the high office of President, in 1896, became an accomplished fact. The distin guished member of the Georgia delegation who presented his name to the convention was the late Judge Henry T. Lewis, of Greensboro, afterwards elevated to a seat on the Supreme Court bench. Hon. Clark Howell, for years a member of the National Democratic Executive Committee, took a prominent part in the proceedings of this convention; and, in a racy article which he afterwards wrote for his great paper, he tells the story of Bryan's nomination. Says Mr. Howell: "The Democratic convention of 1896 was fruitful of dramatic epi sodes. The second. Cleveland administration was drawing to a discredited close when the 1896 convention met. The opponents of Cleveland and the friends of free silver were in control. It was a crusading lot of Democrats who gathered in Chicago that year to nominate a President and to sail the Democratic ship into unknown seas. "Several men were candidates for the nomination, among them 'Sil ver' Dick Bland and 'Horizontal Bill- Morrison. The man who secured the nomination had never been thought of in that connection, save by himself and one member of the Georgia delegation. The man who thought he would be nominated, and who was nominated, was, of course, William J. Bryan. The member of the Georgia delegation who had thought of Bryan in connection with the nomination was Hal Lewis, an ardent free silver man, as were all the members of the Georgia delegation, and he had been attracted by some speeches Bryan had made while in Congress. "Bryan was not even a delegate when he reached Chicago. He came as a member of a contesting delegation. J. Sterling Mortem, who was in 5 Vol. I, "Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends," by L. L. Knight. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1291 Cleveland's Cabinet, controlled the machinery in Nebraska,'and he had sent an anti-silver delegation to Chicago. Bryan came with a delegation to fight the admission of the Morton faction. I was a member of the sub committee of the national committee which passed on this contest and reported in favor of Bryan and his friends, and they were seated. That' report gave Bryaii an opportunity to get into the convention and to make his 'Cross-of-Gold' speech, which made him the nominee. It is curious to speculate as to what would have been the history of Bryan and the Democratic party if our report had been in favor of the J. Ster ling Morton faction. "Bryan, once seated in the convention, watched for his opportunity, and when it came unloosed that crown-of-thorns and cross-of-gold speech, which not only gave him the nomination for the Presidency, but shaped the course of the Democracy through many campaigns. " Bryan's speech was a great oratorical effort, and it spell-bound the convention. Hal Lewis, of Georgia, however, was the man who turned that speech into practical benefit for Bryan. When the Georgia delega tion got together, after Bryan's speech, Lewis at once began to urge the Nebraskan as available for the nomination, and soon had the delegation agreeing with him. Bryan was seen, and it was agreed that his name should be presented by Lew;is. "When Georgia was called, Lewis was carried to the platform on the shoulders of the Georgia delegation. Lewis was a remarkable man. He was a fine speaker, with a magnificent voice, but he spoke only on the rarest occasions. When he did speak, however, he was "like a volcano in eruption, and he was certainly volcanic when he presented the name of Bryan to the convention. His speech was second only to the cross-of-gold effort of Bryan, and long before Lewis ceased to speak the nomination of Bryan was a foregone conclusion. "The curious thing about the 1896 convention was that the result, so far as Bryan was concerned, was no surprise. Bryan came to the con vention believing he would be the nominee and had everything arranged to that end. Mr. Bryan himself is authority for this statement. I was very close to Mr. Bryan in those days, and remained close to him long afterwards. After the convention I had a conversation with Bryan in the old Clifton Hotel in Chicago, and I asked him if he were not surprised when the convention turned to him. " 'Not a bit,' said Bryan. 'I came to Chicago expecting to capture the convention by a speech and be nominated. It has worked out just as I expected.' '' I then asked Bryan if the cross-of-gold speech was extemporaneous, resulting from the inspiration of the moment. Bryan greeted the ques tion with a hearty laugh. '' ' There was nothing extemporaneous about it,' he said. ' I prepared that speech weeks in advance; memorized it so I could repeat it backward or forward and declaimed it over and over again. Extemporaneous! No, indeed!' And Mr. Bryan continued to laugh. So you see the climax of the 1896 convention was as carefully rehearsed and staged as any pro duction ever presented by that master of stage-craft, David Belasco. By way of contrast, it is worth mentioning that Georgia, which did so much for Bryan in 1896 and 1900, had completely broken with him by 1908. 1292 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS In the latter year at the Denver convention, although Bryan controlled, he never received a vote from the Georgia delegation.'' * WOODROW WILSON: AN INCIDENT IN His CAREER AS A LAWYER Woodrow Wilson, the twenty-eighth President of the United States, began his career as a lawyer in Georgia's state capital. He was formally admitted to the bar in 1882; and his license to practice law in the courts of this state bears the signature of Hon. George Hillyer, judge of the Atlanta Circuit. Entering into a legal partnership with a brilliant young barrister like himself, Edward J. Renick, the professional shingle of the new firm was displayed from a modest office on the second floor of the old Hulsey Building, on the corner of Broad and Marietta streets. But there was no immediate rush of clients, and becoming discouraged as weeks lengthened into months without materially swelling the bank account of either, they decided to dissolve the partnership agreement and to set out in quest of new pastures. Mr. Renick became in after years assistant secretary of state under President Cleveland. Still later he was made special representative of the great banking house of Coudert Brothers. He died in the City of Paris while on a very important mission concerning the Gould interests, and his death was deplored on both sides of tke water. Mr. Wilson went to Baltimore, to pursue a special course of study at Johns Hopkins. He was then called to an adjunct professorship of history at Bryn Mawr; thence in 1888 he went to Wesleyan University, at Middletown, Connecti cut, where he taught political science; and two years later accepted the chair of jurisprudence and politics at Princeton, relinquishing this chair in 1902, to become president of the institution. The policy of his admin istration was to make this great seat of learning a democracy. On account of a disagreement with his board of trustees touching a matter which he considered too vital to admit of compromise or surrender, he resigned the helm of affairs, only to be tendered the democratic nomina tion for governor of New Jersey. Since his entry into politics, the career of President AVilson has been an open book. The following incident of his sojourn in Atlanta is taken from the files of the Constitution, under date of November 6, 1912: '' Two years after his arrival here the tariff commission appointed by President Hayes to visit the various sections of the country and report of the tariffs workings came to Atlanta and sent out invitations asking any one interested to meet with them and point out unjust discriminations as they saw them. John W. H. Underwood was the Georgia member of the commission. When the board assembled in the convention hall of the Kimball House they were greeted by a single man, come to talk over the tariff. For two hours or more he fired question after question at the tariff experts, turned the 'evidence meeting' into a debate between him self, and the board and showed those gentlemen just what the situation was in the South, says Henry Peeples, one of Atlanta's best-known attor neys, in recalling the scene: " 'What is your name?' asked the commission of the young man. " ' I am Woodrow Wilson, a lawyer,' he answered.'' * J Vol. II, '' Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends,'' by L. L. Knight. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1293 HABRIET GOLD : A ROMANCE or NEW EGHOTA On a knoll, overlooking the site of New Echota, there is still to be seen a lonely wayside grave around which cluster the incidents of a pathetic tale of the wilderness. When Elias Boudinot was attending the Moravian School, at Cornwall, Connecticut, he there met and loved Har riet Gold, At the expiration of two years they were married, much to the displeasure of her father and brother, who little relished the thought of her marriage to an Indian, even though of mixed breed. But she took this step with her mother's full consent. It was an affair of the heart, which a mother could well understand, despite the separation from home and the life of isolation among an alien people, which such a marriage necessarily involved. So the happy pair came to Georgia; and here, in the course of time, the bride's mother made them a visit and found her daughter well provided with domestic comforts and little .disposed to complain. AVith true missionary zeal, the young bride soon became intent .upon the task of bettering the conditions of life among the Indians. She founded, some time in the early thirties, the first Sunday school in Gordon County; and to her husband, who was editor of the Phoenix, she was both a companion and a helpmeet. She did much for the uplift of the tribe, and the life which she lived among them, though brief, was one of beautiful unselfishness. "When John Howard Payne was impris oned in the block-house, she frequently went to see him, making his bonds less burdensome by her sympathetic attentions. The story goes that he taught her to sing his famous air of "Home Sweet Home"; and how ever reconciled she may have been to her lot by reason of the one thing needful to make it rosy, there were doubtless minor chords of love in her heart which sounded a sad response when her memory reverted to her old home in far-away Connecticut. But satisfied though she was with the man of her choice, the days of her joyful wedlock were numbered. Stealthily the fingers of disease began to clutch at the vital cords. Perhaps she foresaw the bolt which was destined to descend upon the Cherokees. It was not difficult to read the future at this troublous hour. There was scarcely a moment when her husband's life was not. in danger. The nation was divided into rival camps. The anxieties incident to this vexed period may have been too severe for an organism attuned to gentler surroundings. At any rate she faded day by day; and one afternoon in midsummer they bore her to the hillside, where a slab of marble, yellow with age, still marks the spot. It requires no great stretch of the imagination to picture the broken hearted man who survived her, bending over the low mound, on the eve of his departure for the West, and reading, through tear-filled eyes, the following inscription: * "To the memory of Harriet Ruggles, the wife of Thomas Elias Boudinot. She was the daughter of .Colonel Benjamin and Eleanor Gold, of Cornwall, Conn., where she was born June 1, 1805, and died at New Echota, Cherokee Nation, August 12, 1836. We seek a rest beyond the skie.s.'' * Vol. I, '' Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends," by L. L. Knight. 1294 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS '' THERE 's MILLIONS IN IT !" Before the discovery of the rich gold fields of California, in 1849, Dahlonega, Georgia, was the chief center of gold mining activities in the United States; and hither flocked hundreds of argonauts in feverish quest of the yellow metal. According to the late Professor Yeates, who was at one time state geologist of -Georgia, an expression which Mark Twain has made classic in two hemispheres originated at Dahlonega. Says Professor Yeates: "One of the most active and enthusiastic spirits of the flush times was Dr. M. F. Stevenson, an amateur geologist and mineralogist, who was full of the belief that Georgia was one of the richest mineral States in the Union. AVhen, in 1849, the miners around Dahlonega gathered to take action, on the project of deserting the mines in Georgia and going in a body to the new fields of California, this earnest believer in Geor gia's great mineral wealth mounted the court-house steps in Dahlonega, and, addressing a crowd of about 200 miners, plead with them not to be turned by the stories of the wondrous discoveries in California, but to stick to the Georgia fields, which were rich in possibilities. Pointing to Findley Ridge, which lay about half a mile to the south, he exclaimed: 'Why go to California? In that ridge lies more gold than man ever dreamt of. There's millions in it.' This last sentence was caught up by the miners and taken with them to California, where for years it was a by-word among them. It remained for Mark Twain, who heard it in common use, in one of the mining1 camps of California, to broadcast it over creation by placing it in the mouth of his world-renowned charac ter, Colonel Mulberry Sellers."*' "HOME, SWEET HOME": JOHN HOWARD PAYNE'S GEORGIA SWEETHEART AND IMPRISONMENT It is one of the ironies of Fate that the poet from whose pen has come the best-known lyric of the hearthstone was himself a homeless wanderer. With little knowledge of domestic happiness, he sang of home, not as a possession, but as a want; and, for more than thirty years, he was even fated to fill an exile's grave, on the far shores of the Mediterranean. The absence of any strong domestic ties first led him, when a mere lad, to seek his fortune abroad. On returning to America, after a lapse of two full decades, his wandering footsteps at length brought him to Geor gia, where two experiences of a widely different character awaited him a jail and a sweetheart. From the former of these binding spells he was soon released, through the prompt intervention of an influential friend. But, in gentle bondage to the latter, he remained a lifelong prisoner. His heart underwent no change. As for the fair object of his affections, she retained her maiden name to the end of her days and, dying at the ripe age of seventy-six, carried to her grave in Oconee Cemetery, at Athens, an undimmed image of her poet-lover: the immortal author of "Home, Sweet Home." 'Vol. I, "Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends," by L. L. Knight. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1295 The world has not forgotten the pathetic story of John Howard Payiie. But the tendency to exaggerate has led a host of writers, eager for dramatic effect, into gross misstatements. Indeed, there are few, who, in sketching Payne's life, have not drawn more largely upon fancy for materials than upon fact. Payiie was never at any time the shiftless, lie 'er-do-well, or the penni less vagabond which he has often been made to appear by these carica ture artists. Most of his life, it is true, was spent in bachelor quarters and among remote scenes. He also lacked business acumen; but those upon whom Nature bestows the divine afflatus are seldom merchants or bankers. AVith the conveniences of an assured income, he was unac quainted ; and the caprices of Fortune often entailed upon him financial embarrassment. On more than one occasion he knew what it was to be without a dollar in his pocket when creditors were clamorous. But he earned a fair livelihood. At times his wares brought him a substantial recompense and, while his money lasted, he was a prince of bohemians. During the last years of his life, he held an important consular position at Tunis, in Morocco. Born in the City of New York, on June 9, 1792, the early boyhood days of John Howard Payne were spent at East Hampton, on Long Island, where the old family homestead, a quaint two-story structure, with an attic built of cedar shingles, is owned and preserved as a literary Mecca, by Mr. Buek, of Brooklin, a wealthy admirer of the poet. In summer the cottage is charmingly covered with wistaria vines, contrast ing with the silvery tones of color which nearness to the sea invariably , gives. Stretching away to the rear of the house is an old apple orchard, while in the distance can be seen the sand dunes of the North Atlantic. The interior paneling of the house is said to have been the work of a ship carpenter, trained in one of the navy yards of England. The build ing is heated by a huge central chimney, twelve feet in diameter, in which is built a fireplace after the ample pattern of the Dutch. The house is furnished exactly as it was in the days of Payne's childhood, with quaint dressing tables, high bedsteads, old Windsor chairs, and other furnishings reminiscent of the Colonial period. It was doubtless a recollection of this early home beside the sea which, in after years, inspired his deathless anthem. But to go back. At the age of thirteen, when a clerk in a mercantile establishment in New York, Payne began secretly to edit a weekly news paper, devoted to the drama. Such precocity of genius induced the lad's father to plan for him a good education; but, while a student at Union College, his prospects were suddenly disturbed by the elder Payne's fail ure in business. John Howard then decided to go upon the stage. His debut as an actor was made at the Park Theater in New York, on Feb ruary 24, 1809, as Young Norval in the "Douglass;" and the suc cess of his initial performance, both from a pecuniary and from an artistic standpoint, was such that he afterwards toured the New England and Middle states. In 1813 he sailed for England; and from this time dates his pro- 1296 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS tracted sojourn abroad. As an actor he was well received by the public; but, anxious to increase his earnings, he essayed theatrical management, with disastrous results. Due to his lack of business ability, he found himself frequently in financial straits. Fortune did not seem to favor him. In 1815 he published a volume of verse entitled "Lispings of the Muse," from which his returns were only meager. Better success attended him as a playwright. He produced a number of musical dramas, for one of which, an opera, entitled "Clari, or the Maid of Milan," he composed the world-renowned stanzas of "Home, Sweet Home." This opera was first produced at Covent Garden Theater, in May, 1823. The music was adapted by Henry R. Bishop, from an old melody which caught Payne's fancy while visiting one of the Italian cities. It is said that the song itself came to him when, oppressed by debt, he wandered one day, in great heaviness of spirit, along the banks of the Thames River. During the first year it netted his publishers over two thousand guineas. Payne himself derived little pecuniary profit from the song which was destined to make him immortal, but he lived to see it put a girdle of music around the globe, to charm alike the king and the peasant, and to become in literal truth the song of the millions. The original draft of '' Home, Sweet Home'' ran as follows: 'Mid pleasures and palaces, though we may roam, Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home; A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there, Like the love of a mother Surpassing all other, Which, seek through the world, is ne 'er met with elsewhere. There's a spell in the shade Where our infancy played, Even stronger than time and more deep than despair. An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain, 0, give me my lowly thatched cottage again! The birds and the lambkins that came at my call Those who named me with pride Those who played at my side-^Give me them, with the innocence dearer than all. The joys .of the palaces through which I roam Only swell my heart's anguish there's no place like home. Later Payne re-wrote the poem. But in order to secure brevity he sacrificed poetic charm. The lines with which the public are today familiar hardly measure up to the original; but they are doubtless better adapted to the air. Here is the poem as re-written: 'Mid pleasures and palaces, though we may roam, Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home. A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there, Which, seek through the world, is ne'er met with elsewhere. Home, home, sweet, sweet home! There's no place like home! There's no place like home! GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1297 An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain, 0, give me my lowly thatched cottage again! The birds singing gaily that came at my call Give me them and the peace of mind dearer than all. Home, home, sweet, sweet home ! There's no place like home! There's no place like home! In 1832 Payne returned to New York. The question agitating the public mind at this time was the removal of the Cherokee Indians to a traus-Mississippi region. To one of Payne's fine poetic temperament, the idea of using force to drive these primitive inhabitants of the soil these native Americans into an unwilling exile was most repugnant. He thought of himself as an outcast and a wanderer; and it was only natural for the man who wrote "Home, Sweet Home" to espouse the cause of those who were soon to be homeless, even though they were savage tribes of the forest. To ascertain the real facts in regard to the Cherokees, Mr. Payne came to Georgia in 1836, on the eve of the famous deportation. It so happened that, at this time, Georgia was in a turmoil of excitement. Events were rapidly approaching a climax; and in order to deal, on the one hand, witli meddlesome interlopers whose purpose was to inflame the red men, and, on the other, with lawless characters escaping across the state line into Indian Territory, it was necessary for Georgia to extend her jurisdiction, with a rod of iron, over the domain of the Cherokees. There was, at this time, among the Indians two distinct parties, one of which, under Major Ridge, strongly favored removal as the wisest course for the nation to adopt. The other, headed by John Ross, stren uously opposed removal; and these were regarded as the sworn enemies of the state. Between the two factions there was war to the knife, deadly and bitter. When John Howard Payne came to Georgia, he visited the Cherokee nation as the guest of John Ross, then, as afterwards, the prin cipal chief. His object in making this visit was unknown to the civil authorities; but his affiliation with John Ross put him at once under suspicion. He contemplated nothing sinister. His purpose was merely to gather information. But Tray was in bad company, at least, to Georgia's way of thinking, and, while visiting John Ross, he was put under arrest and imprisoned in the old Vann house, at Spring Place, in what is now Murray County, Georgia. Capt. A. B. Bishop, who com manded the Georgia Guards, at this place, made the arrest. He found the poet at Ross' hom^ near the head of the Coosa River. It is said that while imprisoned at Spring Place he heard the soldiers singing his familiar anthem, "Home, Sweet Home,""and that, when he eventually satisfied his captors that he was the author of this renowned song, he received from them the most considerate treatment. Neverthe less, he was held a prisoner until his release was finally procured by Gen. Edward Harden, of Athens, to whom he had brought a letter of intro duction. The historic site of the poet's imprisonment at Spring Place is soon to be marked by the John Milledge Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. 1298 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS As stated, Mr. Payne, on coming to Georgia, brought with him a letter of introduction to an old citizen of Athens, Gen. Edward Harden. The latter was formerly a resident of Savannah, and during the famous visit of LaFayette to this country, in 1825, he entertained the illustrious nobleman of France. General Harden was typically a gentleman of the old school, courtly in his manners, refined and cultured, in fact, a man of letters, though his chosen profession was the law. Payne expected to stop at the public inn; but to this General Harden demurred, insisting that he become his guest for an indefinite stay. Thus it was that the author of '' Home, Sweet Home'' found himself an inmate of the famous old Harden home in Athens. The story that Payne caught the inspiration for his poem, at this time is, of course, sheerest fiction, for more than twelve years had elapsed since the first rendition of the song in public. Equally imaginative is the yarn that on entering the door of his prison at Spring Place, he raised both hands in anguish above his head, exclaiming with bitter sarcasm, "Home, Sweet Home," and then proceeded to write the poem, in a moment of silent communion with the Muses. But while Payne did not write his poem in Georgia, he enjoyed the hospitality which General Harden lavished without stint upon friend and stranger alike; and there came into his life at this time an influence which, for the rest of his days, was destined to cast upon him the spell of a most subtle enchantment. He became acquainted with the general's lovely daughter, Mary. So fascinated was the poet with this gentle lady of Athens that the main purpose of his visit to Georgia was almost for gotten. The poor Cherokees became a secondary consideration. Even his Yankee scruples against southern biscuit were overcome when he tasted one of the dainty products of Miss Mary's oven. Still, he did visit the Cherokee nation; and it was while on this trip that his imprisonment at Spring Place occurred. On hearing of his predicament, General Harden hastened to his release. But the poet was so mortified over the treatment to which he had been subjected that he lost no time in returning to the North, avowing his purpose never again to visit Georgia, without a formal invitation. To this resolution he adhered. However, there were some memories connected with his visit which he did not care to forget and which, through the lonely days and nights succeeding his return to New York, continued softly to serenade him, to the music of his own '' Home, Sweet Home.'' Between Miss Harden and Payne there doubtless passed a number of letters. But one in particular deserves our attention. In a wild flutter of hope, he wrote to her, on July 18, 1836, telling her that he could offer her naught save his hand and heart and entreating her to smile upon his suit. What her answer to this proposal of marriage was, no one knows. She was always silent upon the subject; but the fact remains that they were never married, though each remained loyal till death. Perhaps the old general himself barred the way. He knew that Payne was a rolling stone; and while he admired the poet's genius he may have doubted his ability to support a helpmeet. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1299 In after years, Payne was sent with a consular appointment to Mo rocco, by the United States Government. On the eve of his' departure Miss Harden requested of him an autographed copy of his renowned song, a boon which he promptly granted. In some mysterious manner this copy disappeared at the time of Miss Harden's death, giving rise to the not unnatural presumption that it was buried with her; but her niece, Miss Mary Jackson, to whom the old Harden home in Athens was willed and who assisted in preparing the body of her beloved aunt for burial, states that, for this supposition there is no ground whatever. It is not unlikely that Miss Harden herself, when warned of approaching death, destroyed with her own hands what was never meant for the eyes of the idly curious. Payne, after leaving for Morocco, returned to America but once in life. On this occasion he received a wonderful tribute from the famous Jennie Lind, who, turning toward the box in which he sat, in a crowded theater, sang in the richest accents which have doubtless ever been heard on this continent, the familiar words of his inspired song. The great Daniel Webster was a witness to this impressive scene, the memory of which he carried to his grave at Marshfield. Soon after returning to Morocco, Payne died, on April 9, 1852, at the age of threescore years. He was buried at Tunis, where his body rested for more than three full decades, in a foreign exile, on the shores of North Africa. But finally, in 1883, through the efforts of the great philanthropist, Mr. W. W. Corcoran, of Washington, D. C., the ashes of the poet were brought back to his native land and reinterred in Oak Hill Cemetery, on the outskirts of the nation's capital. Here, underneath the same ground slab which marked his grave in Tunis, sleeps the gentle poet of the hearthstone. But overlooking the sacred spot there stands a more recent structure of pure white marble, reared by thousands of voluntary contributions. It is surmounted by a life-size bust of the lamented bard and lettered underneath it is the following epitaph: * JOHN HOWARD PAYNE Author of "Home, Sweet Home." Born, June 9, 1792. Died, April 9, 1852. Sure, when thy gentle spirit fled To realms above the dome, With outstretched arms God's angels said: "Welcome to Heaven's home, sweet home." ME. CRAWFORD AT THE COURT OF NAPOLEON Shortly before the drooping banners of the Old Guard had com menced to trail vvpon the field of. Waterloo, there appeared at the Court of France an arrival of unusual dignity of bearing whose whole aspect * Vol. IT, "Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends," by L. L. Knight. 1300 GEOKGIA AND GEORGIANS seemed to suggest that a new emperor had come to Paris. It was evident from the most casual glance that the handsome stranger was no ordinary individual. He clearly bore the majestic stamp; but, coming unheralded and unescorted, he was probably of lesser rank, perhaps some earl or duke, with family connections on the throne. However, an examination of his official papers dispelled the imperial illusion by making it apparent .that he boasted neither rank nor title, for he hailed from the lower edge of the Cherokee belt and was none other,.than the American ambassador, William H. Crawford, of Georgia. Gigantic in stature, Mr. Crawford stood considerably over six feet tall, but was well proportioned and delicately featured. His ruddy com plexion told that he had never known an hour's illness. His broad shoul ders, Atlas-like in strength, were surmounted by an immense leonine head such as Phidias might have carved for Jupiter; while, underneath an expansive brow of tinted marble, darted the quick glances of an eagle which seemed to be looking from some mountain eyrie. Before the eyes of one who saw him for the first time, there immediately shot up the figure of the pine, but his courtly bearing and his native ease of manner suggested, on more intimate acquaintance, the richer sheen of the mag nolia or the softer velvet of the cedar. Accompanying Mr. Crawford to France, as secretary of legation, went Dr. Henry Jackson, an accomplished young educator, who had recently, been called to the faculty of Franklin College. Doctor Jackson was a, younger brother of the famous Gov. James Jackson, who fought the Yazoo Fraud, and was the father of Gen. Henry E. Jackson, who wrote "The Eed Old Hills of Georgia." As the result of a deep personal inter est, Mr. Crawford had invited Doctor Jackson to accompany him abroad, and the board of trustees granted the young professor a special leave of absence for the purpose of making this trip. Mr. Crawford remained abroad some two years; and, if not in France at the time of the battle of Waterloo, he at least appears to have wit nessed the return of Napoleon from Elba. The period was most eventful; but, even amid the waning fortunes of the empire, the Court of France was surpassingly brilliant. It was on this occasion that Mr. Crawford received from the emperor an involuntary tribute the like of which he is said to have paid to no other mortal man. Doctor Jackson has happily preserved the incident. He says that when the superb figure of the American ambassador was arrayed for the first time in the gorgeous apparel of the French court, he riveted upon himself the astonished gaze of everyone present. Struck by Mr. Crawford's distinguished appearance, the bewildered Napoleon instinctively bowed his imperial forehead twice; and in speak ing of the affair afterwards he frankly confessed that Mr. Crawford was the only man to whom he ever felt actually constrained to bow. This story is well attested. An examination of the old newspaper files will serve to unearth many a racy incident of like character, but none perhaps more striking than this episode of .the French court in which William II. Crawford, by wresting tribute honors from the conqueror of Europe, forestalled the triumph of the Duke of Wellington. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1301 .How MB. CBAWFOBD MISSED THE PBESIDENCY On Mr. Crawford's return from France in 1815 he accepted from President Madison the portfolio of war in the cabinet of President Madison, but he was afterwards transferred to the Treasury Depart ment. He discharged the duties of this position so ably that he was retained under President Monroe; but pending the campaign which ushered the new chief executive into the "White House, it became evi dent that Mr. Crawford himself was no mean favorite for the nomina tion. On counting the votes cast in the convention, it was found that, out of a total of 119 votes, 54 were cast for Mr. Crawford. Nor did his popularity wane. In 1824 he received the endorsement of his party over Mr. Calhoun, and entered the race under the most nat tering prospects of success; but just before the election, by the most untoward caprice of fate, Mr. Crawford was stricken with paralysis. Though defeated, the contest was so close that, like the famous BurrJefferson fight of 1801, it was thrown into the national House of Repre sentatives. The candidates were William H. Crawford, Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay. Mr. Adams was finally elected, due, it is said, to the agency of Mr. Clay, who gave his support to the New Englander. Governor Gilmer states that the attack of paralysis was superinduced by an improper use of lobelia, administered by an inexperienced phy sician, to relieve an attack of erysipelas. But the malady did not entirely check Mr. Crawford's usefulness. He became judge of the northern circuit of Georgia, a position which he held from 1827 to 1834. Even amid the wreck of his brilliant powers he seems to have retained, in a very marked degree, his wonderful memory. He never lost his love for the old Latin and Greek authors, but still read Homer and Virgil, Cicero and Xenophon, fluently in the originals, and could no doubt have dis tanced many of the college professors. Moreover, he was a perfect encyclopedia of general knowledge, an index rerum of his generation. But it was always a pathetic spectacle to see the palsied figure of the old giant as he ambled toward the bench or stammered out the words which once leaped to his lips with such charm of music and such felicity of phrase. Feeble glints of the old fire still gleamed in his eyes, and dim traces of the old Apollo were still visible in his emaciated form, but it was difficult to realize that this infirm old jurist was the great William H. Crawford, of Georgia, for whom the presidential chair of the nation was not considered too high an honor, and to whom even the great Napoleon had twice bent the crown of France.* ANECDOTE OP MB. CBAWFOBD'S SCHOOL-DAYS Joseph Beckham Cobb narrates the following incident of Mr. Craw ford's school-days at Mount Carmel: '' It was determined by himself and some of the elder school boys to enliven the annual public examinations by representing a play. They selected Addison's Cato; and, in forming the cast of characters, that of *Vol. I, "Reminiscences of Famous Georgians,' by L. L. Knight. Vol. Ill--3 1302 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS the Roman senator was of course, assigned to the usher. Crawford was a man of extraordinary height and large limbs, and was always ungrace ful-and awkward, besides being constitutionally unfitted, in every way, to act any character but his own. However, he cheerfully consented to play Cato. It was a matter of great sport, even during rehearsal as his companions beheld the huge, unsightly usher, with giant strides and sten torian tones, go through with the representation of the stern, precise old Roman. But, on the night of the exhibition, an accident, eminently characteristic of the counterfeit Cato, occurred, which effectually broke up the denoument of the tragedy. Crawford had conducted the Senate scene with tolerable success, though rather boisterously for so solemn an occasion, and had even managed to struggle through with the apostrophe to the soul; but, when the dying scene behind the curtain came to be acted, Cato's groan of agony was bellowed out with such hearty good earnest as totally to scare away the tragic muse, and set prompter, play ers and audience in a general, unrestrained fit of laughter. This was, we believe, the future stateman's first and last theatrical attempt." * OLD JUDGE DOOLY, OP LINCOLN Over in what Judge Longstreet calls "the dark corner of Lincoln," there lived during the early part of the last century, an eccentric old judge of the western circuit by the name of Judge John M. Dooly. His wit was proverbial. Perhaps there never sat on the bench in Georgia a man whose faults were more pronounced; and, strange to say, he made no effort to conceal them. He could play a better game of poker and drink a stouter glass of ale than almost any one of the hardened offenders who quailed under his sentences; and he even made his accom plishments in this respect a matter of jest. But in spite of his failings he possessed many sturdy and robust characteristics; and, whatever else may be said of him, he was certainly not a hypocrite. He was unfail ingly generous and kind-hearted, and ofttimes the sympathetic tear is said to have lurked behind the judicial frown. However, his saving grace was his unrivaled wit. This invested him with an outward glamour which made even his faults, in the eyes of the masses, seem virtuous and heroic; and usually the courtroom was crowded with spectators who were less eager to hear the eloquent pleas of counsel than to catch the luminous sparks which fell from the judge's anvil. Lawyers seldom twitted or provoked him, dreading the effect upon the jury-box; but the ordinary proceedings gave him frequent occasions for droll comment. Judge Dooly was notably opposed to shed ding blood; albeit he came of fighting stock. His father, Col. John Dooly, was killed by the Tories in an unexpected assault upon his home at the outbreak of the Revolution; and his uncle, Capt. Thomas Dooly, suffered death in like manner at the hands of the Indians several years previous. But the judge himself possessed little of the martial instinct. He detected no music in the roar of musketry; he snuffed no perfume in the smell of gunpowder. He was pronouncedly a man of peace; and, if tradition can be trusted, he even carried his preference for the olive- * Joseph Beckham Cobb in '' Leisure Hours.'' GEOBGIA AND GEORGIANS 1303 branch so far that when someone ventured to call him a liar he accepted the epithet as gracefully as if the offender had tendered him the instru ment which Apollo gave to Orpheus. Happily for Judge Dooly, his genial humor has served to keep him in green remembrance. Indeed, his name leaps glibly to our lips, when we find it difficult to recall many of his contemporaries who were dis tinguished for much greater achievements; and it all goes to show that for preserving purposes at least the salt of Attica is better than the spice of Sparta. In politics, Judge Dooly was a federalist. This accounts in some measure for the fact that he rose no higher than a circuit judgeship. Election day almost invariably found him short at the polls. But he scored heavily on his opponent while the campaign was in progress; and kept the countryside in a good humor. Pie was a musketeer and a swordsman both in the use of the King's English; and few and far be tween were the politicians who had the temerity in joint debate with this dreaded Ajax to hazard the fire of his deadly batteries or to challenge the flash of his Damascus blade. Concerning Judge Dooly's peculiar whimsicalities there are still enough legends afloat in Georgia to fill an ordinary octavo volume of anecdotes. Most of them are spurious, but enough are genuine and well authenticated to establish the primacy which he enjoyed among the great jurists of his day for pure and un adulterated wit. If Dickens could only have met this unique character, he might have improved upon the drolleries of Pickwick.* JUDGE DOODY'S BEE-GUM On a certain occasion, when the famous feud between Clark and Crawford was at its height, Judge Dooly became involved in a contro versy with his predecessor upon the bench: Judge Charles Tait. As a result Judge Tait challenged him to mortal combat. There are several versions to this story, but, according to one of them, Judge Dooly ac cepted the challenge and actually appeared upon the scene of encounter, though he was notoriously opposed to shedding blood, especially from his own veins. General Clark was Judge Dooly's second, while Mr. Crawford, in a like capacity, served Judge Tait; and the affair was probably planned with the utmost seriousness by the friends of both parties. Now, it happened that one of Judge Tait's bodily infirmities was a wooden leg, and it was a knowledge of this fact which inspired Judge Dooly's singular feat of valor. At the appointed time, Judge Tait, with his second, Mr. Crawford, appeared upon the scene of action, where he discovered Judge Dooly sitting patiently alone upon a stump. In reply to an inquiry from Mr. Crawford, concerning the whereabouts of General Clark, with whom he wished to confer in advance of the duel, Judge Dooly replied: '' General Clark is in the woods looking for a bee-gum.'' "May I inquire," asked Mr. Crawford, "what use he intends to make of a bee-gum?" ''I want to put my leg in it,'' replied Judge Dooly. "Do you suppose for a minute that I am going to risk a good leg of flesh and blood against * Vol. I, '' Reminiscences of Famous Georgians," by L. L. Knight. 1304 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS Tait's wooden stump ? If I hit his leg, he can get him another one before tomorrow morning; but if he hits mine I may lose my life, certainly my leg; and to put myself on equal footing with Tait, I must have a beegum for protection. I can then fight him on equal terms.'' "Then am I to understand that you do not intend to fight Judge Tait?" inquired Mr. Crawford. "Well," responded Judge Dooly, "I thought every one knew that." "Perhaps so," replied Mr. Crawford, "but you will fill a newspaper column in consequence of this day's business." "So be it," replied the judge, with an arch smile, "I would rather fill a dozen newspapers than one coffin.'' There ,was nothing more to be said. Judge Tait was, of course, cha grined at this unexpected turn of affairs. He expected to humiliate Judge Dooly, even if he could not force him to fight; but Judge Dooly had cleverly managed the situation and, without putting his good legs in jeopardy, had come off the victor. Gallant Jack Falstaff himself could not have managed the affair with keener strategy or with cooler dis cretion. ANECDOTES OF JUDGE DOOLEY When canvassing for re-election to the judgeship of the northern circuit before the Legislature, during the stormy session of 1825, in consequence of the warlike message of Governor Troup, the latter's political adversaries, among whom the judge belonged, branded him with madness; to which Judge Dooly most happily replied, in the midst of a large number of Governor Troup's friends: "If he is mad, I wish the same mad dog that bit him would bite me." This saying so pleased and conciliated his opponents that they voted for him almost to a man, and he was triumphantly re-elected. The writer was riding out with the judge one day for the purpose of viewing, as he termed it, the beautiful little Village of Warrenton, which he always insisted was next to Wrightsboro, the loveliest in the circuit. It was in the afternoon of the day on which the citizens had met, during the recess of the court, to discuss the ruinous policy of the tariff of 1828; when seeing the village swarming with happy children just turned loose from school he inquired if all those children belonged there. On being answered in the affirmative, with the additional state ment that he did not see half of them, he replied: "Well, this is a species of domestic industry which needs no duties to protect it. The South is rich in children, tariff or no tariff.'' On one occasion he was most happy in giving a hint to a landlord in one of the upper counties, who had honored him by presenting the judge every day for dinner, during the session, with a half-grown hog in the shape of a stuffed baked pig. He attended upon the table every day, without injury: no fork had pierced him, no knife had cut him. At the close of the term, on finishing the dinner of the last day, he turned to the sheriff and ordered him to discharge the pig upon his own recog nizance, to be and appear at the next term of the court, with the thanks of the'court for his prompt and faithful attendance thereupon. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1305 On another occasion, during the protracted trial of a criminal case in Hancock, a friend was discovered by the judge to be always drinking out of a certain little pitcher which sat before him and which, by-the-by, had plenty of apple toddy in it. The judge at length became thirsty, as well he might, and called for water. The sheriff sprang down to the pail, which sat in the corner, and brought a tumbler of water for the judge. On its being presented to him, he shook his head, and, with a significant manner, which all understood, begged him to let him have some out of the pitcher which Mr. H. was using. It was brought; and, having tasted it copiously, under the gaze of all present, the judge smacked his lips and returned it saying that it was the best water he had tasted since he came to the village, and enjoined it upon Mr. Bailiff always to draw from the same spring. At a certain dining party, the ladies present were speaking very highly of one of the sex who had just come among them as a bride, saying that she was a lady of such fine, even temper, they knew the judge would be glad to meet her; whereupon he replied that, under different circum stances, he should be gratified to do so, but, as she was a lady of fine, uniform temper, he must beg to be excused, for he never knew but one lady of this charaeter-^old George C 's wife; he had known her intimately for forty years, during the whole of which time she had been of uniform temper; she had been mad uniformly mad, without the least variation ever since he first met her, and he prayed God that he might never meet another! One cold morning, during the spring term of Hancock Court, he seemed to be quite husky in his voice and laboring under a cold, when a member of the bar inquired of him after his health. He replied that he had a severe attack of the quinsy for, as cold as the wind blew, there was a man who came and stood all the morning at the courthouse door with only his morning gown on, and no cravat; that the sight of the man had affected his throat so much it was quite sore; and that he should have to resort to his hoar-hound before night if it did not get better. The ruling passion is strong, even in death. "When confined to his bed for the last time, a friend called to inquire of his condition. He replied that he had a bad cold without any cough to suit it. He was a man of the warmest charity. He observed on one occasion, when a poor beggar asked him for alms, that he was early taught, from refusing to give an unfortunate widow in Savannah, never to let the devil cheat him out of another opportunity of bestowing charity; that he had determined to err on the safe side ever after, and to give something in all cases of doubt. His versatility of character was great. On one occasion he entered into a room where a faro-bank was in operation, while he was judge, and insisted on putting an end to the practice by winning all the stakes. He declared that in his opinion the law was a dead letter, compared to one severe beating, with a gambler; that he was a fit subject of punish ment only when his last dollar was won; that while the gambler had money, he was sorry to find that he always had friends. He said that 1306 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS it was laying the axe at the root of the tree, to break them up at a fair game. At Hancock Court, the judge had to impose a fine on two men who were brought before him for a riot. He called for some paper from Philip Sims, the clerk, who was known to be a rigid economist, in fact, so much so that he rarely handed over more paper than was barely sufficient for what was required. When, after much ado, Sims handed over a piece of paper both small and dirty, the judge turned the scrap over and over; then of a sudden he threw it down contemptuously on the bald pate of the clerk, saying: "I would not fine a dog.on such a scrap as that. Go, gentlemen, and sin no more. Else the next time I will see to it that you are fined on gilt-edged paper." ;' At Taliaferro Court, one dark and gloomy night, the judge had retired to rest in a room which chanced to be just under the one in which most of the lawyers attendant upon the court were lodging. The gentlemen above were telling anecdotes and making quite an uproar of laughter, accompanied by the scraping of feet and the rattling of chairs, much to the judge's annoyance. Suddenly a dreadful encounter seemed to be going on in the judge's chamber; chairs and sticks and blows were distinctly heard. Immediately all the members of the bar rushed into his room below to see what it meant; and, to the mortification and surprise of every one, the judge was beating one chair with another, over the whole floor, apparently in a furious passion. "What is the matter?" asked one of the lawyers. "Nothing," he replied; "I was only keeping time with the noise upstairs.'' Once, at Hancock, he was much enraged at the disorderly conduct of two members of the bar. He remarked sternly that they must be seated, when one of them, after sitting down quickly, made an effort to rise for the purpose of apologizing. He was about half way up when the judge discovered him. "Mr. G.," said he, "rise if you dare, and you are fined one hundred dollars;'' whereupon Mr. G., being half bent, made an effort to speak, when he silenced him again; "Just speak a word, and you are fined one hundred dollars." So, being confounded and con fused, half rising and half speaking, Mr. G. made such a grotesque ap pearance as to excite the universal laughter of those present; when the judge, collecting himself and cooling down, mildly remarked: "Mr. G. has the floor and is now in order. You can both rise and speak till you are satisfied, provided you do so one at a time.'' To secure proper attention for a favorite horse, which he often drove, it was Judge Dooly's custom, on reaching a hotel, to ask if he could secure quarters for his horse, as well as for himself. On receiving a response in the affirmative, he would then apologize for his horse, by informing the landlord that he had not long since purchased him of a Frenchman; that he had not learned to speak English; and that he was desirous he should be put in charge of a faithful hostler, who would feed, water, and curry him three times a day and furnish him a nice pallet of straw at night. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1307 I am now reminded of one more anecdote which, is very characteristic of the man. A certain lawyer in Lincoln County was a candidate before the people for a seat in the Legislature. When asked by the judge as to his prospects in the coming election, he replied that he was appre hensive he would be defeated, as the people of the county had a strong prejudice against voting for a lawyer. "Oh," replied the judge, "if that is all, I will aid you, for you can get a certificate from me at any time that you are no lawyer." Judge Dooly 's mind was as clear as light and as thick as thought. He seems never to have been at a loss for a correct understanding of the case tried before him, no matter how complicated. He readily unraveled it, exposed the fallacy and sophistry which counsel might throw around it, and presented its true merits to the jury. His memory was very tenacious. He seems never to have forgotten any case he read or any decision he heard, while a practicing attorney at the bar. His recollec tion of the names of parties and witnesses was no less wonderful. He seemed to fall in love, almost intuitively, with system and order in speak ing of any subject. He used but few words, and those always to the point.* Before he went on the bench, Judge Dooly was very fond of cards, and was not always restrained afterwards. I heard him say that he never went to a faro-table determined to win a moderate sum and stop, that he did not succeed if left to his own judgment. He went to Augusta on one occasion, determined to win 50 guineas each night during his stay. He carried out his resolution for several nights, and was progress ing well the last night, till some intermeddling friend began to advise him, when bad luck commenced. Then he began to drink, continued to lose, and proceeded until he lost all. He lived in the midst of a large plantation. A long lane led down to his gate, which you opened and rode some hundred yards up to his house. One very hot day a neighbor came to the large gate and called and beckoned until he made the judge come through the hot sun to where he was; and, when within speaking distance the neighbor asked him if he had seen anything of Mark Bond, another neighbor. "No," said Dooly, as he turned about and walked back to his porch, whence he watched him in search of Mark Bond as long as he was within reach of a halloo by Dooly. He then called and beckoned until the neighbor rode back through the gate and up to the porch, when the judge said: '' I have not seen Mark Bond, and do not care if I never do,'' and turned on his heel and walked into the house. I witnessed the scene of ordering the sheriff to discharge the stuffed pig on his own recognizance, which, together with the breaking of the faro-bank at "Wilkes Court, you have no doubt heard. When I first came to the bar, Wilkes Court sat from two or three weeks in July. One evening a lawyer of this place, during the July court, asked the judge and several other gentlemen, among whom was myself, to his office to eat watermelons. The judge had complained all * Condensed from letters of Judge Grigsby E. Thomas to Maj. Stephen H. Miller. 1308 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS the week of my being unusually slow in transacting my business. After we had eaten all the melons before us, I proposed to go with another friend a few steps off for some more. "No, no, Andrews, don't you go," said Dooly; "they will get too ripe before you return." He was of feeble health, and more peevish when unwell than at other times, though always irritable. He also had great contempt for anything like foppery. Being sick at Milledgeville, he was confined to the second story of the hotel. His friends had advised him to have a young doctor to prescribe for him who was rather foppish, and wore heavy brass-heeled boots, just as they were coming into vogue. After he had visited the patient once or twice, Dooly became disgusted with his manners, and thought the doctor took unusual pains to let him know that he was shod after the latest fashion. He could hear the brass heels ring at every step upstairs and to his door. When the doctor arrived on his third visit, Dooly called out: '' Ride in, doctor; ride in!" On one occasion, at Hancock, he was trying a prisoner for murder, and the case turned on the point whether he was justified in shooting the deceased. The jury returned a verdict that "the prisoner had the right to shoot." So soon as the verdict was read out, Dooly cried, in great alarm, "Take care, Mr. Sheriff; take care that he doesn't shoot this way!" Dooly's father was prosecuting attorney about the close of the Revolution, when some eight or ten men were hung in this county, under indictments about as long as your finger. [Perhaps they were tories; if so, additional light is thrown on the tragic manner of his death.] Judge Dooly was born in Lincoln County, near the Savannah River, and saw his father killed by the tories during the Revolutionary war, or soon after.*' The author has heard a few things outside of his correspondence, which he gives for what they are worth: Judge Dooly and the late Major Freeman Walker disagreed at a public dinner, when the latter observed that he had borne with the liberties taken by Judge Dooly long enough, and that, since the attack upon his feelings had been public, so should be the redress. He there upon seized a chair and advanced on Judge Dooly, who seized a large carving knife for his defense. Several gentlemen sprang forward to keep the judge from stabbing his assailant, and only one gentleman held back Major Walker. Looking calmly at the scene, Judge Dooly said: "Gentlemen, one of you will be sufficient to keep me from doing mis chief; the rest of you keep your hands on Major Walker." Of course, the affair ended in an explosion of merriment, and friendly relations were soon restored. At the close of a court, having settled his tavern bill and ordered his horse, the judge came from his room with a very small pillow under his arm, a miniature likeness of the more satisfactory article, on which after the toils of the day it is pleasant to repose the head. Some one inquired of him what he was going to do with the pillow. "I am going to plant it in some rich soil," said he, "so it will be large enough by the next term of the court." * Judge Garnett Andrews, in a letter to Maj. Stephen F. Miller. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1309 Quite a good hit was made by the judge at McComb's Hotel, soon after the election of Mr. Adams to the presidency in 1825. It is said that a young man was complaining that the country was disgraced by the election of Mr. Adams; that such a man as Mr. Crawford, the wisest and soundest statesman of the age, should be passed over; that even Gen eral Jackson was to be preferred to the successful candidate. Judge Dooly was sitting before the fire, with his head dropped on the back of his chair, attentively listening. Then raising up and looking the grumbler in the face, he said, "Young man, does Mr. Adams know that you are opposed to him'?" "No, sir," he replied, "I wish he did know how little I thought of him.'' With a twinkle of the eye and a cutting tone of the voice usual in his sarcastic moods, the judge administered this consolation: "Suppose I write on to let Mr. Adams know that you are dissatisfied with his election. Perhaps he will resign." In a moment, the youthful politician glided into the street, not waiting to join in the roar of laughter which followed at his expense from the large number of persons present. Governor Gilmer, in his published work ["Gilmer's Georgians"], thus speaks of Judge Dooly: "His capacity was sufficient for any attain ment if it had been properly directed and actively employed. Unfortu nately for himself and for society, he was, when young, -under the influ ence of idle, drunken, gambling associates. Though his estate was large, his education was neglected. His scholastic knowledge was limited to what he learned from the common schoolmasters of his time. His features were of the finest cast. His large, protruding black eyes in dicated to any one who looked into them his extraordinary genius. He was a lawyer, and would have been the most successful at the Georgia bar, if his habits had corresponded with his talents. Mr. Forsyth was his only countryman who equaled him in polemic party discussion." * PEN-PICTURE OP JUDGE DOOLY Maj. Stephen P. Miller who, when a young man, made the acquaint ance of Judge Dooly, has left us the. following pen-picture of the noted jurist. Says he: "When I first knew this extraordinary man, he was in the prime of life; and I shall never forget the impression which his person made upon me. He was about the medium size, and his head always seemed too large for his body, his mind too active and strong for his frame. His forehead was bold and elevated, his eye-brows heavy, his nose prominent, his mouth small and compressed, and his eyes, large and sparkling, with long eye-lashes, which, frequently opening and shutting, gave his coun tenance an expression as if under the influence of an electric battery, from which the beholder at first sight, was almost sure to recoil. His peculiarity of voice, which was sharp and discordant, was also well calculated to enforce attention. But there was a point, a spice, a felicity of expression, in what he said which showed him at once to advantage and which drew all other tongues into silence when he spoke. The learned and ignorant, the old and the young, all felt his power to Stephen F. Miller, in '' Bench and Bar of Georgia,'' Vol. I. 1310 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS please, and did him honor. It was his wit and sarcasm which gave him this pre-eminence. I never knew his equal in either. Yet the very subject of his wit, from the happy manner in which it was played upon him by the judge, was generally the first to join in the loud and hearty laughter which it produced; and even the unfortunate object of his sar casm soon recovered from the overwhelming blast, from a consciousness that it resulted, not from any settled malice in the judge but from a mere wanton desire to punish with which the God of nature had endowed him. If his adversary would give him a time of parlance, the difficulty was adjusted by a single stroke of good humor, which often followed the most writhing and scathing thunderbolt.'' GOVERNOR MATHEWS: AN ECCENTRIC CHARACTER Gov. George R. Gilmer has given us the following pen-picture of Governor Mathews, one of the most eccentric characters of his day: He was a short, thick man, with stout legs, on which he stood very straight. He carried his head rather thrown back. His features were full and bluff; his hair, light red; his complexion, fair and florid. His looks spoke out that he would not fear to meet the devil, should he meet him face to face. He admitted no superior but General Washington. He spoke of his services to the country as unsurpassed, except by those of his great chief. He loved to talk of himself, as enthusiastic youths do of Alexander or Caesar. His dress was in unison with his looks and conversation. He wore a three-cornered cocked hat, top boots, a shirt full-ruffled at the bosom and wrists, and occasionally a long sword at his side. Qualities were united in him which are never found in one person, except an Irishman. To listen to his talk about himself, his children and his affairs, one might have thought that he was but a puff of wind; trade with him, and he was found to be one of the shrewdest of men; fight with him, and he never failed to act the hero. He was unlearned. When he read, it was always aloud, and with the confidence which accompanies the conscious ness of doing a thing well. He always pronounced the 1 in "would" "should" and the ed at the termination of compound "words, with a long drawling accent. He spelled coffee "Kaughphy," and wrote "Con gress" with a k. When governor, he dictated his messages to his secre tary and then sent them to James Madison Simmons, the Irish school master, to put them into grammar. His memory was unequaled. Whilst he was a member of Congress, an important document which had been read during the session was lost. He was able to repeat its contents verbatim. Previous to the Revolu tionary war he was sheriff of Augusta County, Virginia, and had to collect the taxes from the inhabitants. He recollected for a long time the name of every taxpayer. His memory, combined with his sharpness in trade, enabled him to make lucrative speculations in the most unusual way. He used to go from Philadelphia to Ohio with three or four horses for his capital in trade. He knew all the officers of the Revolutionary army entitled to land in Ohio. He found that men would take a horse for an uncertain claim, who would 'refuse to sell at all if money were offered, from the opinion that money, which was very scarce, would not GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1311 be given but for what was known -to be of value. He acquired a large estate in lands, principally by this kind of traffic. During his term of office as governor, an act was passed by the Legis lature, usually called the Yazoo Fraud, for selling to several companies, for $500,000, upwards of forty millions of acres in territory which now makes the states of Alabama and Mississippi. All the members of the Legislature who voted for the act secured money or shares in the com panies, except one. The governor had been opposed to all the previous schemes for disposing of the public land. It was with great difficulty that his consent was obtained to put his signature to the act for its sale. The morning after it was rumored that his scruples had been overcome, his secretary, Urquhart, endeavored to arrest his intended signature, through his inherited Irish superstition. He dipped the pen which was used by the governor in oil. Though startled by his pen obstinately refusing to make a mark, he was not thus to be deterred from his pur pose. He directed his secretary to make another pen, with which he signed his approval. The bribery was noised abroad by rumor's hundred tongues. Those disappointed in getting a share of the public lands for little or nothing united with the honest and patriotic in raising such a clamor of indignation as had never before been heard. Stout as the gov ernor's spirit was, he had to yield to the storm. He quitted Georgia, never afterwards to make it his home long at a time. Mr. Adams, when President, nominated General Mathews to the Sen ate for governor of the Mississippi Territory, but afterwards withdrew the nomination upon finding the opposition to his appointment very great. On hearing of this turn of affairs, General Mathews immediately, set out for Philadelphia, where Congress then assembled, to chastise the President. Upon his arrival in Philadelphia, he rode directly to the house of Mr. Adams, hitched his horse, and went to the door, his Revo lutionary sword at his thigh, his three-cornered cocked hat on his head, and gave a thundering knock. Upon a servant opening it, he demanded to see the President. He was told that he was engaged. General Math ews then said to the servant: "I presume your business is to carry messages. Now if you do not immediately inform the president that a gentleman wishes to speak to him, your head will answer the consequences." ' The servant bowed, retired, and informed the President that a strange old fellow, who called himself General Mathews, wished to see him, and would take no denial. Mr. Adams directed that he should be admitted. Upon entering the room where the President was, he said: "I presume you are Mr. Adams, President of these United States. My name is Mathews, sometimes called Governor Mathews, well known at the battle of Jarmantown as Colonel Mathews of the Virginia line. Now, sur, I understand that you nominated me to the Senate of 'these United States to be Governor of Massassappa Tarratory, and that afterwards you took back the nomination. If you did not know me, you should not have nominated me to so important an office. Now, Sur, unless you can satisfy me, your station of President of these United States shall not screen you from my vangance." 1312 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS Mr. Adams accordingly set about' satisfying him, which he did with the utmost good will on account of the general being a stout federalist. Inquiring after his sons and receiving a most laudatory description of them, he promised to appoint John supervisor of the public revenues iri Georgia. Whereupon the general expressed himself content, saying: "My son John is a man about my inches, with the advantage of a labral education, and for his integrity, I pledge my head." * TOOMBS, THE IMPASSIONED MIKABEAU The mesmerism of genius has never held Georgia more completely enthralled than when fleshed in the personality and christened under the name of Robert Toonibs. In the separate aspects of his character, Mr. Toombs was not without successful rivals. In political statecraft, he was not the equal o-f Howell Cobb. In constructive statesmanship, Mr.Stephens surpassed him. In cohesive oratory, he was not the equal of Mr. Hill. In sagacious foresight and mental equipoise, he must readily yield the palm to.Joseph E. Brown. But in the assemblage of all his gifts he was an undisputed sovereign who in his prime strode the hust ings, swayed the councils, and ruled the politics of Georgia, with the jure divino of the royal Stuart. However, unless exception be made of the State Constitution Conven tion, of 1877, Mr. Toonibs lent his great powers to the building up of no substantial fabric which today survives. Mr. McDuffie, of South Caro lina, was the first to liken him to the fiery tribune of Prance. Said he: "I have heard John Randolph, of Roanoke, and met Burgess, o-f Rhode Island, but this wild Georgian is another Mirabeau.'' The comparison is not far-fetched. Under the spell of his cyclonic oratory, the listener sat transfixed. He seemed to be witnessing some splendid storm at sea; or, better still, some Alpine cataract, hurling its organ thunder against the battlements of basic rock and shaking its diamond plumage in the sun. Prodigal of his abundant resources, Mr. Toombs was utterly indiffer ent to his harvests, husbanding none of his resources, preserving none of his speeches; and while the records of men less gifted are preserved in tablets more enduring, the trophies of his colossal leadership are fading with the generations which applauded them, vanishing like splendid vapors and leaving no indelible impress upon the landmarks of history except the memorials of his destructive passage. Mr. Toombs was the choice of many loyal and warm supporters for President of the Confederate states. But not a few of his admirers were inclined to think that his fiery and impetuous spirit was ill-adapted to the grave responsibilities of the supreme command. He really possessed calmer and cooler judgment than his dramatic temper indicated; but he was wholly unselfish in the matter. Acquiescing in the election of Mr. Davis, who defeated him by only one vote, the great propagandist of secession accepted the post of premier in the. cabinet. This position he filled for only a short while, when differences with Mr. Davis led him to believe that he could serve his country more acceptably in the field. * George E. Gilmer, in l Sketches of Some of the First Settlers of Upper Georgia." THE OLD HOME OF EGBERT TOOMBS, IN WASHINGTON 1314 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS As a senator, Mr. Toombs was superb, towering far above most of Ms colleagues in the American house of peers. He survived the war by more than twenty years; but stubbornly refusing to take the oath of allegiance he went to his grave "an unpardoned rebel" a distinction in. which he gloried. His name and his genius are thus forever asso ciated with the fiery maelstrom of secession. Taken in all the amplitude of his splendid .gifts, he was an intellectual Samson; but like another Samson, of holy writ and olden time, who bore upon his back the gates of Gaza, slaughtered Philistines like insects, and wrestled victoriously with lions, he threw his arms at last around the pillars of his prison house, only to find his death-bed and his sepulchre and the splendid ashes of the edifice.* ANECDOTES OF GENERAL TOOMBS '' Georgia shall pay her debts,'' said General Toombs on one occasion. "If she does not, I will pay them for her!" This piece of hyperbole was softened by the fact that on two occasions, when the state needed money to supply deficits, Toombs, with other Georgians did come for ward and lift the pressure. Sometimes he talked in a random way, but responsibility always sobered him. He was impatient of fraud and stu pidity, often full of exaggeration, but scrupulous when the truth was revelant. Always strict and punctilious in his engagements, he boasted that he never had a dirty shilling in his pocket. The men who left the country for the country's good and came South' to fatten on the spoils of reconstruction, furnished unending targets for his satire. He declared that these so-called developers came for pelf, not for patriotism. "Why, these men," said he, "are like thieving ele phants. They will uproot an oak or pick up a pin. They will steal any thing from a button to an empire." '' I hope the Lord will allow me to go to Heaven as a gentleman,'' he used to say. '' Some of these Georgia politicians I do not want to meet. I would like to associate with Socrates and Shakespeare." During his arguments before the Supreme Court, General Toombs used to abuse the governor and the Bullock Legislature in round terms. The court adopted a rule that no lawyer should be allowed, while conduct ing a case, to abuse a coordinate branch of the government. General Toombs was informed that if he persisted in this practice he would be held for contempt. The next time Toombs went before the court, he alluded to the fugitive governor in very severe language. '' May it please your Honors,'' said he, '' the Governor has now ab sconded. The little rule of the Court was doubtless intended to catch me. But, in seeking to protect the powers that be, I presume that you did not intend to defend the powers that were." General Toombs was once asked in a crowd, at the Kimball House, in Atlanta, what he thought of the North. "My opinion of the Yan kees," said he, "is apostolic. Alexander, the coppersmith, did me much evil. The Lord reward him according to his works." A Federal officer was standing in the crowd. He said: "Well, General, we whipped you. ' Vol. I, '' Reminiscences of Famous Georgians," by L. L. Knight. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1315 anyhow." "No," replied Toombs, "we just wore ourselves out whip ping you." The spoiliators in the State Legislature he called "an assemblage of manikins whose object was no higher than their breeches pockets, seekers of jobs and judgeships, anything for pap or plunder, an amalgamation of white rogues and blind negroes, gouging the treasury and disgracing the commonwealth." * Alluding, in the course of his famous Bush Arbor speech, in Atlanta, in 1868, to General Longstreet, who had been a member of the republican party, General Toombs said: "I would not have him tarnish his own laurels. I respect his courage, honor his devotion to his cause, and regret his errors." And he thereupon proceeded to denounce the ruling party" in Georgia as a mass of floating putrescence, which rots while it rises and rises while it rots." t The spirit of Toombs dominated the convention (i. e., the Constitu tional Convention of 1877). Men moved up the aisle to sit at his feet while he poured out his strong appeal. One-half of the body was filled with admiration, the other half with alarm. "It is a sacred thing to shake the pillars upon which the property of the country rests," said Mr. Hammond, of Fulton. "Better shake the pillars of property than the pillars of liberty," thundered this Georgia Samson, with his thews girt for the fray. "The great question is: Shall Georgia govern the corporations, or the corporations govern Georgia? Choose ye this day whom ye shall serve!" The house rang with applause. Members clustered about the old man as about the form of a prophet. The majority was with him. The articles which he advocated came from the committee without recom mendation, but they were substantially adopted, and are now parts of the supreme law of the land. The victory was won, and Robert Toombs, grim and triumphant, closed>his legislative career, and claimed this work as the crowning act of his public labors. (These principles are contained' in the Constitution of Georgia, Article IV.) When the convention concluded its labors, General Toombs went before the people and threw himself with enthusiasm into the canvass. He took the stump, and everywhere his voice was heard in favor of the adoption of the new organic law. Many of the officers whose terms had been cut off and whose salaries had been reduced, appeared against the constitution. General Toombs declared that those public men who did not approve of the lower salaries might "pour them back in the jug." This homely phrase became a by-word in the canvass. It had its adoption in this way: In the Creek war, in which '' Captain Toombs'' commanded a company made up of volunteers from Wilkes, Elbert, and Lincoln counties, a negro named Kinch went along as whisky sutler. As he served out the liquor, some of the soldiers complained of the price he asked. His answer was, "Well, sir, if you don't like it, sir, pour it back in the jug.'' * Pleasant A. Stovall, in '' Life of Bobert Toombs.'' t Stovall's "Life of Toombs." 1316 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS In the state election of December, 1877, the new constitution was overwhelmingly adopted, and will remain for generations the organic law of the Empire State of the South.* On the 30th of September, 1885, Robert Toombs was confined to his house by illness. It was a general breaking down of his whole system. It was evident that he was nearing the end. During his last illness his mind would wander, and then his faculties would return with singular clearness. He suffered little pain. As Henry Grady said of him, it seemed that his kingly power and great vitality, which had sub dued everything else, would finally conquer death. His ruling instinct was strong in dissolution. He still preserved to the last his faculty of grasping with ease public situations, and of framing terse epigrams, which he threw out like proverbs. During one of his lucid intervals, he asked for the news. He was told that the Georgia Legislature was still in session. "Lord, send for Cromwell," he answered, and turned on his pillow. He talked in his delirium of Mr. Stephens and Doctor Steiner. The latter recalled him and said: "General, I am here, by your side; Mr. Stephens, you know, has crossed over the river." Coming to himself, the feeble old man said: "Yes, I know I am fast passing away. Life's fitful fever will soon be over. I would not blot out a single act of my life." Doctor Steiner declared that he never before realized so fully the appropriateness of Mr._ Stephens' tribute to Toombs: "His was the greatest mind with which I ever came in contact. Its operations, even in its errors, remind me of a mighty waste of waters.'' t THE TOOMBS OAK A story of Robert Toombs has swung round the circle of the papers of late years, which represents him as expelled from college for gambling. He stands beneath the old oak in front of the chapel at commence ment and pours forth such burning words of eloquence that the chapel is deserted and the speakers left to declaim to empty benches., And from this circumstance the tree has ever since been known as the "Toombs Oak." It has been said that on the day Mr. Toombs died, the old oak was struck by lightning and destroyed. There is not the semblance of truth in the story. It was a fabrication of Henry "W". Grady, who, in an admiring sketch of the great Georgian, wrote charmingly of his won derful eloquence and pointed it with a story from his own vivid imagina tion.! The following anecdote is told of the student Toombs: With a lot of boys, he was engaged one night in an escapade of mischief, when one of the members of the faculty appeared upon the scene, much to the dismay of the culprits. The other, however, escaped in the darkness. *Stovall's "Life of Toombs." t Pleasant A. Stovall, in "Life of Robert Toombs." t A. L. Hull, in " A Historical Sketch of the University of Georgia,'' p. 45. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1317 Ml! r. Toombs alone was caught. He resolved to brazen it out; and, facing the professor with an unruffled front, he said: '' The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are as bold as a lion." TOOMBS AT COLLEGE Touching the college life of Mr. Toombs, some racy incidents have been preserved by his biographer, Mr. Stovall. Says he: There is no record to prove that Robert Toombs in college was a close scholar. Later in life he became a hard student and a laborious worker. But if these industrious habits were born in him in Athens, there is no trace of them. In his long career he gave ample evidence that he had been a reader of Shakespeare and history, but if the legends of his college town are to be trusted, he was more noted for outbreaks of mischief than for close application to text-books. Full of life and spirit, a healthy, impetuous boy, he was on good terms with his classmates and took life easily. It was a time when students were required to get up at sunrise and attend prayers. One night, the story goes, the vigilant proctor actually found young Toombs playing cards with some of his friends. Fearing a reprimand, Toombs sought his guardian (Hon. Thomas W. Cobb), who happened . to be in Athens, on a visit from his home in Greensboro. It is not certain that young Toombs communicated the enormity of his offense, but he obtained leave to apply to Doctor Waddell for a letter of dismissal. The learned but severe scholar, not having received the proctor's report, acceded to the demand. Later in the day the president met him walk ing around the campus. "Robert Toombs," said he, "you took advantage of me this morning. I did not then know that you had been caught at the card table last evening." Thereupon the youth straightened up and informed the doctor that he was no longer addressing a student of his college, but a free-bora American citizen. The halls of Athens are fragrant with these stories of Toombs. No man ever left so distinctive a stamp upon the place or gave such spicy flavor to its traditions. Among the college mates of Robert Toombs at Athens were Stephen Olin, Robert Dougherty, and Daniel Chandler, the grandfather of the unfortunate Mrs. Maybrick, of England, and whose' chaste and convincing appeal for female education resulted in the establishment of Wesleyan Female College the first seminary in the world for the higher culture of women. The closest of these companionships was that of George F. Pierce, a young man like Toombs, full of brain and energy, and even then a strik ing and sparkling figure. The paths of these two men commenced at the door of their alma mater, and though their ways were widely divergent, the friends never parted. Two of the greatest orators in Georgia, one left his impress as strongly upon the Church as did the other upon the State. One became a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the other a whig senator. One day these men met, both in the zenith of power, when Toombs said: 1318 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS "Well, George, you are fighting the devil, and I am fighting the Democrats.'' When Robert Toombs became prominent in Georgia, there is a story that the State University, in order to win back his friendship, conferred upon him an honorary degree. Toombs is represented as having spurned it with characteristic scorn. '' No,'' said he, '' when I was unknown and friendless, you refused me a diploma and sent me out disgraced. Now, when I can honor the degree, I do not want it." But the records do not show that the college ever conferred a degree upon Toombs at all. Later in life he was elected a trustee, and each year his familiar figure was seen on the stage during commencement, and his wise counsel heard in the meetings of the board. There is a regular mythology about Toombs at the State University. The' things he said would fill a volume of Sydney Smith, while the pranks t he played would rival the record of Robin Hood. There is still standing on the college campus in Athens a noble tree, 1892, with the crown of a century upon it. Under its spreading branches the first college com mencement was held 100 years ago; under it, too, the student Toombs once stood and addressed his classmates; and of all the men who have gone in and out beneath its shade, but one name has been found sturdy enough to link with this monument of a forgotten forest. The boys to this day call it "The Toombs Oak." * Mr. Hull, in the same work to which reference is above made, gives the facts in connection with the dismissal of Mr. Toombs from college, and quotes from the official records the following paragraph: " R. Toombs called J. H. a shameful name, which he acknowledged to the faculty, and the said H. attacked him and beat him on Friday night. Toombs went to H. 's room with bowie knife and pistol, threw the knife at G. H. and pointed the pistol at J. H., while another student wrested it from him. Afterwards Toombs attacked J. H. with a knife and hatchet, but students interfered, preventing injury. Saturday morning, Toombs waylaid the H. 's, attacking J. H. with club and pistol.'' t Mr. Hull was for many years secretary and treasurer of the board of trustees. REFUSED TO ACCEPT His FREEDOM Uncle Billy Toombs, the former slave of Gen. Robert Toombs, died at the ripe old age of eighty-seven years. When General Toombs was born, Billy was eleven years old; and the latter was at once assigned to duty as the boy in waiting to the infant. When young Toombs reached mature years and married, his father presented him with Billy, and ever after wards the closest friendship existed between the two men. Billy accom panied his master to Washington, to the watering places, and to Europe. In this way he became familiar with many distinguished people. Before the war he possessed an intense hatred of abolitionists. When the war was over and the Toombs family had gathered once at the old family mansion, Billy returned with the rest. "You are free now, Billy," said General Toombs, addressing the old man. * Pleasant A. Stovall, in '' The Life of Robert Toombs.'' t A. L. Hull, in " A Historical Sketch of the University of Georgia,'' p. 45. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1319 "I'll never be free fum my ole marster," replied the faithful negro, " an' I '11 follow you fer de rest ob my days.'' To this Gqnerar Toombs replied; '' Very well, Billy, then I '11 take care of you.'' Uncle Billy continued to be the most devoted of servants, looking after his master's interests as if they were his own. When General Toombs died, he left full provision for Uncle Billy's maintenance, and no mourner at the general's grave shed warmer tears than did the faith ful old African, who lingered there long after the crowd had melted away.* How GENERAL TOOMBS ELUDED ARREST a At the conclusion of the war, Secretary Stanton issued specific orders for the arrest of Jefferson Davis, Alexander H. Stephens, and Robert Toombs. Mr. Stephens was arrested quietly at his home in Crawfordville, on the 12th of May, 1865, two days after Mr. Davis had been over taken [near Irwinville, Georgia]. On the same day a squad of soldiers, most of them negroes, reached Washington, Georgia. They were com manded by General Wilde, with orders to take General Toombs in charge. One of the colored troops marched through town with a photograph of Toombs, which he had procured to identify him, impaled upon his bay onet. General Toombs was, at the time, in his private office at his residence. Hearing the noise in his yard, he walked out of his basement to the corner of his front steps. There he perceived the squad, whose purpose he divined. "By God, the blue-coats!" was all he said. Walking quickly through his back lot, he strode across his plantation and disappeared. By this time the guard was clamoring at the front door, and Mrs. Toombs went out to meet them. '' Where is General Toombs ?'' the commander asked. '' He is not here,'' the lady answered firmly. Thereupon a parley ensued, during which Mrs. Toombs managed to detain the men long enough to enable her husband to get out of sight. "Unless General Toombs is produced, I shall burn the house," retorted the officer. Mrs. Toombs blanched a little at this, but, biting her lip, she turned on her heel, and coolly replied .'' Very well, burn it." Among the listeners to this colloquy was a young man just returned from the Confederate army. He was moved with indignation. He still wore the gray jacket, and was anxious for the Toombs family. He had been a neighbor to them all his life, as his father had been before him, and he shared the pride which the village felt for its most distinguished resident. He was the son of Hon. I. T. Irwin, a prominent public man and a lifelong friend of General Toombs. Preparations were made for the threatened fire. General Toombs did not come out. Furniture was moved and papers destroyed, but the young Confederate was soon con- * From the Methodist Protestant. 1320 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS vinced that the threat was a mere bluff. Believed on this point, his loyal spirit yearned toward the fugitive. Charles E. Irwin was the name of the young man, and he had seen service in the artillery under Longstreet. Not yet twenty-one years of age, he was fired with ardor and devotion, and had already resolved to aid General Toombs in escaping. Riding over to a neighbor's house, Mr. J. T. Wingfield, he failed to find his friend, but left word for General Toombs to let him know where to meet him with his horses. That night about 2 o'clock Lieutenant Irwin received word from General Tobinbs to bring his horse to Nick Chenault's by 7 o'clock in the morning. This was a farm about eighteen miles from Washington, near the Broad River. Here General Toombs mounted his favorite horse and felt at home. It was the famous mare Gray Alice, which had carried him through all his campaigns. He had ridden her during the charges at Antietam, and she had borne him from the fire of the scouts the night he had received his wound. Once more he pressed her into service, and, for the first time in his life, Robert Toombs was a fugitive. This man, who had commanded men and had gained his own way by sheer brain and combativeness, was fleeing by stealth from a dreaded enemy. It was a new role for Toombs. The plucky young guide was resolved to accompany him in his flight it might be to his death; but it mattered not to Lieutenant Irwin. Rid ing swiftly into Elbert County, the two men crossed over to Harrison Landing, a picturesque spot on the Savannah River. Here dwelt an old man, Alexander LeSeur, who led something of a hermit's life. Before the war he had been a know-nothing, and more than once had been exposed to the withering fire of General Toombs, who was a whig. LeSeur met the fugitive with a laugh and a friendly oath. "You have been fighting me for forty years," he said, "and now that you are in trouble I am the first man you seek for protection.'' General Toombs had not traveled fast. The country was swarming with raiders. News of the capture of Davis and Stephens had fired these men with desire to overhaul the great champion of secession. A Federal major, commanding a force of men, put up at Tate's residence, just oppo site the hermit's island. While there, a negro from the LeSeur place informed the officer that some prominent man was at the house. "If it ain't Jeff Davis," said he, "it is jest as big a man." The hint was taken. The island was surrounded and carefully watched, but when the party went over to capture General Toombs, the game was gone. [Six months were spent in the saddle. The detailed account of the flight is most fascinating, but the story is too long to be told in full. General Toombs was a Mason, and more than once the mysterious symbols stood him in good stead. The route which he took was most circuitous, winding in and out through the wilderness and ranging from the sources of the Chattahoochee to the mouth of the Mis sissippi. He wore no disguise, except for a pair of green goggles, and was often in peril of discovery, so well known to everyone was his majestic and splendid figure; but he successfully eluded the officers. At last, after visiting in the home of Howard Evans, in Mobile, where he met the gifted novelist, Augusta Evans, afterwards Mrs. Wilson, he came to New Orleans; and Lieutenant Irwin was his faithful companion to the end.] Arriving at New Orleans, General Toombs drove to the residence of GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1321 Col. Marshall J. .Smith. On the 4th of November, 1865, he boarded the steamship Alabama, the first of the Morgan Line put on after the war between New Orleans, Havana and Liverpool. A tremendous crowd had gathered at the dock to see the steamer off, and Lieutenant Irwin tried to persuade General Toombs to go below until the ship cleared. But the buoyant Georgian persisted in walking the deck and was actually recog nized by Gen. Humphrey Marshall of Texas, who had known him in the Senate before the war. '' No,'' said Toombs to his companion's expostulation. '' I want fresh air; I will die right here. I am impatient to get into neutral waters, where I can talk." By the time the good ship had cleared the harbor, everyone on board knew that Robert Toombs, "the fire-eater and rebel," was a passenger, and hundreds gathered around to listen to his matchless conversation. General Toombs often declared that he would not be captured. Im prisonment, trial and exile he did not dread; but to be carried about a prize captive and a curiosity through northern cities was his constant fear. * * * During all these trying days, Toombs rode with the grace and gayety of a cavalier. He talked incessantly to his young companion, who eagerly drank in his words. He fought his battles over again and discussed the leaders of the Civil war in his racy style. He constantly predicted the collapse of the greenback system of_ currency, and specu lated facetiously each day upon the chances of capture. He calculated shrewdly enough his routes and plans, and when he found himself on terra firma, it was under the soft skies of the Antilles with a foreign flag above him.*' DRAMATIC DEBUT OF MR. STEPHENS During the high summer of 1836, the lower house of the General Assembly of Georgia was engaged in discussing a measure to provide for the building of the "Western & Atlantic Railroad. It was at a time when the iron horse was an innovation, and the possibilities of this new motive power of commerce were somewhat speculative. In the light of subsequent developments the measure was one of unparalleled importance to the state; but opposition to the bill was most pronounced. Debate on the proposed legislation had dragged heavily for days. Member after member had spoken. At last when the wearisome monotony had grown to be so painful that the lawmakers sat listlessly in the hall, scarcely hearing what was said for sheer drowsiness, some one arose underneath the gallery and, in shrill but musical accents, which flew to the presiding officer's desk, like silver-tipped arrows, suddenly addressed the chair: "Mr. Speaker!" Instantly the whole house was alert. Glancing in the direction from which the sound preceded, it was found that this melodious alto which was now heard in the House for the first time came from a member whose entire aspect was so boyish as to redouble the interest which his accents had aroused. The attention became almost breathless. Every glance in * Pleasant A. Stovall, in '' The Life of Eobert Toombs.' 1322 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS the hall was riveted -upon the attenuated figure and cadaverous face of this strange speaker who had hitherto heen regarded by sympathetic eyes as an invalid who was too weak to swell the volume of discussion by any speechmaking upon the floor. But this delicate lad was now actually charming the assemblage with the very enchantments of Orpheus. He spoke in favor of the bill. New arguments were advanced; new principles were introduced; new advantages were pointed out; and new phases of the measure were discussed. He consumed less than half an hour, but he injected new life into the dull debate. What he said seemed to be dashed with the morning's dew; and when he resumed his seat the walls of the old state capitol at Milledgeville fairly shook with the applause which came from every part of the chamber. Hon. Charles J. Jenkins was one of the first to reach him in the rush of congratulations. Said he: . "Sir, that speech will send you to Congress." This impulsive tribute from one who was himself marked for future honors was signally prophetic. The pale youth whom he thus addressed was none other than the man who was destined to represent Georgia in the halls of national legislation, not only through the stormiest period of the slavery agitation, but during many successive terms thereafter; who was also to be vice president of the Southern Confederacy; and who was finally to close his long career of usefulness in the executive chair of the state: Alexander H. Stephens. From the very start he was signally successful. The extraordinary contrast between his slight figure, fragile almost to the point of vanish ing, and his marvelous intellectual gifts, was so striking that he was regarded as the young phenomenon; and it was the wonder of all who heard him plead a cause before the jury, even in these youthful days, that so frail a body could support so massive a brain. This incident is told of a case in which he was retained before he had been at the bar two weeks: "A wealthy gentleman of high position and great influence, upon the death of his son, had been appointed guardian of the person and trustee of the property of his grand-daughter, then an infant, the mother having again married. In the course of time the mother claimed possession of the child, which move was resisted by the grandfather, who claimed the child as legal guardian. The step-father, wishing to please the mother, his wife, came to the young lawyer and engaged him as counsel to set aside the guardianship, other lawyers having failed in the case, and Mr. Stephens, on being consulted, having given it as his opinion that the letters of guardianship as to the person of the child should be revoked, and the mother given charge of her daughter. "The trial was held before five judges of the inferior court, sitting as a court of ordinary, without jurors; and the issue was joined upon the motion to set aside the letters of guardianship so far as related to the person of the child. Great interest was manifested in the attempt of the frail-looking lawyer to foil Mr. Jeffries, then the veteran of the Bar at that place, who, notwithstanding his retirement from the practice, had been prevailed upon to reappear in this case, the most exciting one which GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1323 had been tried in the county for a number of years. The result was that the guardianship was set aside and the child restored to the arms of the mother. The triumphant young advocate immediately assumed the place which his talents commanded for him, and from this time forward there was hardly an important case tried in the Northern Circuit in which he was not retained.'' This was only the first of many similar triumphs which Mr. Stephens was destined to achieve at the bar and on the hustings. The star of Georgia's hope glittered upon these early laurels and as the frail young slip scored victory after victory over the broad shoulders and hoary locks of the veteran stalwarts there were those in the courtroom who quietly thought of the stripling David, who, having met and slain the burly Philistine at the brook, was now ready to mount the steps of the throne of Israel.* ANECDOTES OP ME. STEPHENS Fatigued, after arriving in Charleston, on one occasion, Mr. Stephens availed himself of an easy chair in the hotel, and proceeded to rest until the time came for him to speak. His two traveling companions were Mr. Thomas Chafin and Dr. John M. Anthony, who had been frequent guests of the house, and consequently were well known. Just after Mr. Stephens had ensconced himself in the easy chair, the good lady of the house entered and found the two last gentlemen still standing and what she took to be some country boy occupying the best seat in the room. In a manner perfectly kind but somewhat patronizing, she turned to the supposed youngster and said: '' My son, let the gentlemen have this seat.'' Immediately there followed an explosion of laughter. Of course, the gentlemen were greatly amused, but the kind landlady was much annoyed when she learned that her son was the important personage of her establishment and the invited guest of the beautiful city between the rivers. In connection with the famous conference at Hampton Roads, an amusing incident is narrated of the Confederate vice president, who was one of the commissioners. He entered somewhat late, in consequence of which fact he perhaps attracted more than ordinary attention. It was in the spring of the year, and to fortify himself against the chilliness which still lingered in the atmosphere of this somewhat northern latitude, he came well wrapped. Amused at the spectacle of seeing him remove first one article and then another, Mr. Lincoln finally said: "Well, Mr. Stephens, you are the smallest nubbin I have ever seen to have so many shucks." Colonel A. H. H. Dawson,' once a member of Congress from Georgia, became identified -with the American party just before the war; and in opposition to the appeal of Mr. Stephens that the South should support Mr. Buchanan for President, Colonel Dawson thus argued upon the stump: "Vol. I, '' Reminiscences of Famous Georgians," by L. L. Knight. 1324 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS "My friends, we once had the great Whig party, and in this State, Mr. Stephens was its great leader. The AArhig party has gone to Hades. We now have the great Democratic party, and in this State Mr. Stephens is its great leader. If he will only lead the Democratic party where he led the Whig party, I shall be perfectly satisfied.'' Wholly fictitious is the anecdote which represents some burly Geor gian, first Mr. Toombs and then Judge Gone, as saying to Mr. Stephens that if his ears were pinned back and his head was greased he could swallow him whole, and which makes Mr. Stephens retort that if he could do it he would have more brains in his stomach than he ever had in his head. Neither General Toombs nor Judge Cone could have been so boorish. To find the authorship of the famous rejoinder one must turn to the novels of Sir Walter Scott. Within the limits of authentic tradition, the nearest approach to this specimen of gastronomic humor dates back to the. presidential contest of 1860, when Mr. Stephens, who supported the Douglas ticket, engaged in a joint debate with Col. Ranse Wright, afterwards Gen. A. R. Wright, who supported the American candidates. Colonel Wright was one of the ablest campaigners in the state, and on this particular occasion he made one of his best efforts. But the effect of the speech was broken by the skillful manner in which Mr. Stephens parried one of his clever witticisms. It was amusingly told by Colonel Wright that Mr. Stephens was reported to have said that, metaphorically speaking, he could eat Ben Hill for breakfast, Ranse Wright for dinner and Bob Trippe for supper, and of course, this ridiculous yarn brought down the house. The laughter was long and continuous as the audience gazed upon the diminu tive storage room of the invalid statesman and thought of the little man with the big appetite. But it came the turn of Mr. Stephens to speak; and, after denying that he had made such a statement, he added that if he had contemplated a feast of the character described, he would certainly have changed the order; he would have taken Ben Hill for breakfast, Bob Trippe for dinner, and, remembering the advice of his mother, always to eat light suppers, he would have tipped off with his friend, Colonel Wright. The building fairly shook with the mirth which followed this turn of the tables. Colonel Wright realized that he was worsted in the tilt, but he joined heartily in the laughter of which he was the victim. During the earlier years of his life, Mr. Stephens was a whig; and, while making a speech on one occasion, he was annoyed by the repeated outbursts of an intoxicated man in the audience, who exclaimed, when ever the words of the speaker provoked applause: " I 'm a dimi-crat! I 'm a dimi-crat!'' Mr. Stephens ignored the interruption at first, but finally he became impatient, and, turning to the man in the audience, he said: "My friend, you may be a dimi-crat, but you need only some hickory ribs around you to make you a dimi-John.'' Almost everyone knows that Mr. Stephens was an inveterate whistplayer; and he played the game like he steered the Ship of State as though it were heavily freighted with the destinies of mankind. It was GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1325 nothing unusual for him to be seen at Crawfordville, absorbed in the enjoyment of his favorite pastime, with eyebrows knit and forehead bent in the brownest of studies; and he also enjoyed the relaxation of the game when in Washington, and often played with Col. Richard Malcolm Johnston, who would run down for an evening's visit from Baltimore, where he was then living. But the two old cronies were seldom partners. They had tried the experiment once, and they had not spoken for weeks following; for Mr. Stephens had so wounded the feelings of Colonel Johnston by irritating comments on an occasional misplay that the latter finally threw down his hand and left the room. At last, when they made up, they agreed never again to play partners; for they were both highstrung and they desired to retain each other's friendship, now that they had buried the hatchet. And while for more than twenty years they continued to play whist, they were invariably on opposing sides. Colonel Johnston, says that he never knew anyone who could get so angrily excited at times in playing whist to enjoy the game like Mr. Stephens. And from what others have reported of similar experiences it is no doubt true that some of the pleasantest hours which the invalid statesman spent were in playing whist when his partner knew how. During the famous gubernatorial campaign of 1882, when Mr. Stephens was opposed by Gen. L. J. Gartrell, he made his opening speech in Atlanta, and was introduced to the audience by Capt. Henry Jackson. The occasion will always be remembered because Mr. Stephens spoke from his roller-chair, and the appearance which he presented was most dramatic. While the speech of introduction was in progress, an ardent supporter of the opposition cried out: "Hurrah for Gartrell!" It was well calculated to disconcert the speaker, especially since it caused an unwelcome wave of applause to roll across the assemblage; but Captain Jackson was well seasoned by the tilts of the forum. He saw at once that the man was a Caucasian, but he purposely ignored the dis covery ; and when the uproar subsided he raised his eyes to the rafters of the opera house and said: "If the colored brother in the gallery will please be quiet this intro duction will proceed.'' Nothing could have been more effective. The clever hit was loudly applauded, and the exuberant supporter of General Gartrell instantly subsided. As Captain Jackson sat down, Mr. Stephens wheeled himself to the front and began the opening speech of the campaign. There were frequent outcroppings of the old fire, but the veteran, statesman was very feeble and to revive his flagging spirits he repeatedly sipped from a little glass on the table, saying as he raised it to his lips: '' I drink to the health of the Jeffersonian Democracy !'' Mr. Stephens, in the course of the campaign, made frequent use of an old expression which he first coined before the war when the famous whig party was going to pieces. He was bitter against the know-noth ings and was not quite ready to join the democrats. Asked to what camp he belonged, he replied that he belonged to none. Said he: "I'm just totin' my own skillet." 1326 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS THE AKEEST OF MB. STEPHENS While a prisoner at Fort Warren, in Boston Harbor, Mr. Stephens kept a diary, in which he carefully recorded from day to day the events of his prison life. He also interspersed it with observations on the phi losophy of government, with comments upon current topics, and with various other things. The references to Linton Stephens are both numer ous and tender. On almost every page there is some allusion to his half-brother, a reminiscence or a prayer, in which Linton was the central thought. Chapter after chapter from the Bible was also copied into the diary to beguile the tedium of imprisonment; and the manuscript of this journal, in after years, furnished the basis for the statesman's great literary masterpiece, "The War Between the States." On the death of Mr. Stephens the diary became the property of his nephew, the late John A. Stephens, whose children have recently given it to the public. The opening chapter of the diary contains an interesting first-hand account of the author's arrest. It runs as follows: "Liberty Hall, Thursday, May 11, 1865. This was a most beautiful and charming day. After refreshing sleep, I arose early. Robert Hull, a youth, son of Henry Hull, of Athens, Ga., spent the night at my house. I wrote some letters for the mail, my custom being to attend to such business as soon as breakfast was over; and Robert and I were amusing ourselves at Casino, when Tim [a negro servant] came running into the parlor, saying: 'Master, more Yankees have come; a whole heap are in town, galloping about with guns!' Suspecting what it meant, I rose, told Robert I supposed they had come for me, and entered my bedroom to make arrangements for leaving, should my apprehension prove true. Soon, I saw an officer with soldiers under arms approaching the house. The doors were all open. I met him in the library. He asked if my name was Stephens. I replied that it was. '' ' Alexander H. Stephens 1' said he. '' I told him yes. He then said that he had orders to arrest me. I inquired his name and asked to see his orders. He replied that he was Captain Saint, of the Fotirth Iowa Cavalry, or mounted infantry, attached to General Nelson's command; he was then under General Upton; he showed me the order by General Upton, at Atlanta, directing my arrest and the arrest of Robert Toombs; no charge was specified; he was instructed to come to Crawfordville, arrest me, proceed to Washing ton, arrest Mr. Toombs, and then carry both to General Upton's head quarters. '' I told him I had been looking for something of this kind; at least, for some weeks, had thought it not improbable, and hence had not left home; that General Upton need not have sent any force for me; that had he simply notified me that he wished me at headquarters, I should have gone. I asked how I was to travel. ' c He said . ' On the cars.' "I then learned that he had come down on the train, arriving just before Tim's announcement. I asked if I would be permitted to carry any clothing. He said ' Yes.' I asked how long I might have for pack ing. He said: ' A few minutes as long as necessary.' I set to packing. LIBERTY HALL, THE FORMER HOME OF ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS, AT CRAWFORDVILLE 1328 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS % Harry [the chief man servant] came in, evincing great surprise and regret, to pack for me. The captain then said: " 'You may take a servant with you if you wish.' "I. asked if he knew my destination. He said: '' ' First, Atlanta; then, Washington City.' " 'I called in Anthony, a black boy from Richmond, who had been waiting on me for several years, and inquired if he wished to go. I told him I would send him from Washington to his mother in Richmond. He was willing, so I bade him be ready as soon as possible. "In the meantime, Mr. Hiddell [secretary to Mr. Stephens] had come in; he was living with me and had gone out after breakfast. None of my brother's family residing at the old homestead happened to be with me; however, Clarence, who was going to school at the Academy, hearing of what had occurred, I suppose, came over with some friends from town. It was about ten A. M. when Captain Saint arrived. In about fifteen minutes not much over we started for the depot, Anthony and I, with the captain and squad; friends, servants, and Clarence following, most of them crying. My own heart was full too full for tears." * TOOMBS AND STEPHENS Toombs was muscular, full-statured, deep-chested and imperious. He was a tower of strength. His veins were swiftly pulsed by vigorous and warm blood of the richest quality of red. His sinews were wrought of steel. His muscles were spun of oak. His head was leonine. His dark brow, over which clustering waves of hair fell with cloud-like effects, seemed to be the abode of lightning and the home of thunder. Stephens was fragile, sickly, wan, and emaciated. He wore the typical look of an invalid. His eyes were bright, but they beamed like lanterns in the win dows of the charnel-house. His cheeks were sunken, and his features, contracted by suffering, were overlaid with an enamel of sepulchral whiteness. He appeared to be constantly hovering upon the borders of another world and .to be taking his last view of earth. Nevertheless his voice possessed an unusual compass and an extraordinary power of pene tration ; but whereabouts in his slender anatomy the physical force lay hidden which expelled these musical harmonies is one of the inscrutable mysteries of finite existence. * * * It was the boast of Mr. Toombs that he had never tasted the wares of the apothecary's shop until he was thirty-four years of age. It was the misfortune of Mr. Stephens that he had to be literally dieted on drugs and that mustard plasters almost took the place of bread and but ter. Mr. Toombs gathered the commonwealth with bated breath and painful apprehension about his sick bedside only once. But Mr. Stephens was at least three separate times the center of such melancholy scenes; thrice the newspapers of the state were striped with black columns, teem ing with editorial post-mortems and eloquent obituaries; thrice the salty lachrymals were filled; thrice the flag above the capitol drooped and sighed at half-mast. * Vol. II, "Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends," by L. L. Knight. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1329 But the outward and obvious differences between these two great Georgians were only the external flowerings of the contrasts, whose tap roots ramified the hidden subsoil beneath. Mr. Toombs was by nature impetuous and impulsive. His fiery temper subsided somewhat when the air was tranquil; but it slept like knighthood, stretched beside its lance and pillowed upon its shield. Mr. Stephens was calculating and deliberate. He made abundant drafts upon caution. He was not without spirit; but like the disciplined charger he had been trained to the bit. Mr. Toombs argued with volcanic eruptions; Mr. Stephens in higher mathematics. Both were eloquent; but the eloquence of Mr. Stephens was that of fine-spun silk, while the eloquence of Mr. Toombs was that of molten lava, hurled from the~ heated cauldrons of Vesuvius. Both men were tenacious of conviction. But Mr. Stephens was more tolerant than Mr. Toombs; and, while he was not disposed to temporize in any sense which implied surrender or compromise of principle, he was more dis posed to treat with his adversaries in the hope of finding some common basis of agreement. Mr. Stephens even when perfectly sure of his ground was prone to measure consequences; while Mr. Toombs was dis posed to let consequences trail behind in the rear coach, while he grimly pressed the lever. Both men were industrious workers, but Mr. Toombs with tempera mental impatience worked spasmodically, while Mr. Stephens with steady strokes worked continuously; the one like the woodsman hewing down the forest, the other like the oarsman plying up the stream. Ruddy Toombs, with the vigor of mountain granite in his frame, produced no literature; while delicate Stephens, with insistent and steady toil, wrote volume after volume. Both were princely givers and royal entertainers; but Toombs, by wise investment, accumulated two fortunes and died rich, while Stephens lived narrowly within his means and died poor. On political issues Toombs was at one time a democrat and Stephens a whig. Equally loyal to the South, Stephens opposed while Toombs advo cated secession; and when the war was over Toombs resisted while Stephens tolerated reconstruction. The elements of contrast extended even to the names which they separately bore. Toombs was christened Robert A., but he dropped the middle initial soon after beginning the practice of law. Stephens at first had no other given name, being christ ened simply Alexander for his paternal grandfather, but he subsequently adopted the middle name of Hamilton, in honor of an old preceptor whom he greatly admired. Such differences as these appear to leave little room for friendship; but differences sometimes appear in the friendly guise of supplements rather than in the hostile frown of con tradictions. This explains the friendship between Toombs and Stephens. Besides they were both ardent patriots and true statesmen. Though on opposite sides of the most burning issue which ever divided the people of Georgia, they were not estranged in affection. Mr. Toombs was present when Mr. Stephens delivered his great speech in opposition to secession, before the Georgia Legislature, in 1860, and when he con cluded, Mr. Toombs, though the most pronounced secessionist in the state, arose and said: "Fellow Citizens, we have just listened to a speech from one of the 1330 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS brightest intellects and one of the purest patriots in America. I move that this meeting now adjourn with three cheers for Alexander H. Stephens.'' Some time afterwards, Mr. Toombs was complimented by one of his opponents on the handsome manner in which he had behaved on this occasion. "Thank you/' said he, "I always .behave myself at funerals." Another characteristic act on the part of General Toombs evinces the warmth of his lifelong friendship for Mr. Stephens. The incident has been preserved in the charming little autobiography of Richard Malcolm Johnston. Soon after the nomination of Horace Greeley for President in 1872, Mr. Stephens, who was bitterly opposed to his election, started a newspaper in Atlanta primarily for the purpose of defeating the ticket in Georgia. It shows how deeply the feelings of the great democrat were enlisted in the campaign; for ordinarily he was content with the ora torical leverage of the stump. The enterprise was an unfortunate one for Mr. Stephens, for he was not an experienced business man, and he failed to bestow the proper amount of vigilance upon the financial end of the venture. If any money was realized from the ill-fated undertaking, if failed to reach the bank account or to line the pockets of the great com moner ; and when the campaign was over he felt himself in honor bound to give his promissory notes for an amount which mortgaged his hard earnings for many long months to come, besides absorbing the cash receipts of his '' War Between the States.'' As soon as General Toombs was apprised of the status of affairs, his warm sympathy for Mr. Stephens spurred his movements toward Atlanta. He lost no time in calling upon the creditors; and, after he had purchased the outstanding obligations to the amount of several thousand dollars, he carried them to Mr. Stephens. Tossing them into his lap with an air of gay abandon, he said: '' Here, Aleck, are those notes you gave those Atlanta people; use them to lighf the fire."* L. Q. C. LAMAR: His PICTURESQUE PERSONALITY Though identified with the State of Mississippi during the greater part of his public life, L. Q. C. Lamar was a Georgian by birth, ancestry, and education, lived in Georgia until well beyond his legal majority, and served one term in the State Legislature. He was also twice married in Georgia. His first wife was Virginia Longstreet, a daughter of the noted Judge A. B. Longstreet, author of "Georgia Scenes." His second wife was Mrs. Holt, widow of the late Gen. William S. Holt, for many years president of the Southwestern Railroad. Finally, at the close of his long and arduous career of public service, he wended his way back to Georgia, led, no doubt, by the instinctive longing which the aged exile often feels for the haunts of his early youth; and while stopping at Vineville, near Macon, .the end came. He was buried in Rose Hill Cem etery, on the banks of the Ocmulgee River, where he rested until his body was exhumed and taken back to Mississippi for final interment. * Vol. I, "Eeminiscences of .JTamovis Georgians," by L. L. Knight. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1331 These facts explain the deep feeling of affection in which this great man is today held in Georgia. The old mother state never forgets her offspring once a Georgian, a Georgian always. But few of her sons have ever held such claims upon her remembrance as L. Q. C. Lamar congressman, senator, secretary of the department of interior, and asso ciate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Gen. Mirabeau B. Lamar, his uncle, was the second president of the Texas Republic, a soldier, a poet, and a scholar... Justice Joseph R. Lamar, a kinsman, is today a member of the nation's highest court of appeals. Entering the halls of Congress, in the early '50s, Mr..: Lamar became at once conspicuous in the political and social life of Washington. Striking in- his outward personality, no less than in his rare genius, he was an object of universal interest, and attracted attention whenever and wherever he appeared. Usually he wore his hair long and, falling in rich clusters, it covered both sides of his face. Though his head was large, it rested solidly upon broad shoulders, and was not seemingly out of proportion with the rest of his body. He was always neat in his appearance but never ostentatiously dressed. Ordinarily his manner was reserved and self-contained, and he im pressed one as being wrapped in deep meditation. When his features were in repose there was nothing about him suggestive of the strenuous life, but once his interest was aroused the dreamer was straightway lost in the man of action. Chivalrous by instinct, he embodied the typical graces of the old cavalier stock, and was characterized even in the heat of acrimonious debate by an exhibition of refined courtesy, which made his polite rejoinders all the more effective and powerful. It was never with the bludgeon that he confronted his antagonist; but always with the rapier. In calmer moments there was little to bespeak the fiery Huguenot temper which lay concealed beneath the velvet sheen of his habitual quietude; but it flashed forth whenever the lion was aroused. Nothing ever revealed the ruffian; because he was not there. During the war period, Mr. Lamar was missed in Washington. He served the confederate government both at Montgomery and at Richmond, and also represented the confederacy abroad. When the war was over, he re turned with increased prestige to the nation's capital. Some interesting anecdotes of Mr. Lamar V life in AVashington have been preserved by the newspaper reporters, with whom he was always on friendly terms. Perhaps no man in Washington ever kept the corre spondents busier turning out pen-pictures and thumb-sketches than this picturesque and popular statesman from the cotton belt. Yet he cared nothing for cheap notoriety. On being called into President Cleveland's Cabinet Mr. Lamar found it necessary to secure permanent quarters in Washington. Until then he had been stopping at the hotels during the sessions of Congress. Supposing his salary of $8,000 to be ample for all purposes, he called upon Mrs. Dahlgreen, widow of the late Admiral Dahlgreen, who had just completed an elegant house which she was ready to let. This house just suited Mr. Lamar. Ushered into the presence of the owner of the mansion, he told her 1332 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS he was anxious to lease the place at once, and hoped he had come early enough to forestall anyone else. The lady was exceedingly cordial, ex pressing her gratification at the opportunity of leasing the place to one so distinguished as Mr. Lamar, and naming the rental which she expected it to bring. The secretary thought perhaps his ears were at fault when the figures were mentioned. '' How much did you say the rental was ?" he inquired. "Seven thousand five hundred dollars a year," she repeated. The secretary was thunderstruck. He had not calculated on meet ing such an obstacle. He sat perfectly still for several moments with his eyes bent upon the carpet, apparently absorbed in profound thought. At such times the pallor of his countenance always deepened. "Are you ill, Mr. Lamar?" interrogated the lady, with evident anxiety. "No madam," returned the secretary, lifting his dreamy eyes from the floor. '' I was only wondering what I should do with the rest of my salary." Mr. Lamar was once the victim of quite an amusing case of mistaken identity. Boarding one of the street cars in Washington he took his seat beside an intemperate fellow who was about to be ejected because he had no money to pay his fare. Quick in his sympathies he was touched with what he considered the pathos of the situation, fend reaching down in his pocket he pulled out a nickel which he gave the conductor. The drunken man gazed stupidly at his benefactor for something like five minutes and then as if suddenly recognizing an old acquaintance, he said: "How d'ye d > General Butler? I thought I know'd yer. Wuzn't we both at New Orleans ?" With these words he ,put forth his hand, which Mr. Lamar took. But the whole car was now laughing at the joke. Turning to some one who sat near him, Mr. Lamar said: "You don't think he takes me for Ben Butler, do you?" But he was not left in the dark long. Again the fellow spoke out, after scanning his features somewhat more minutely: "Got yer eye fixed sense we was at New Orleans, hain't yer?" Mr. Lamar suddenly happened to remember that he had ridden as far as he wished, and clutching his papers he politely bade his old com rade adieu and left the car at the next corner. Strange as it may seem, in one whose legal learning was so profound, Mr. Lamar was passionately fond of light literature; and he usually whiled away his leisure moments by indulging his tastes in this direction. En route to the senate chamber or to the department of interior, he seldom saluted any one he met, but sat in the street car or carriage, as the case might be, deeply absorbed, in the book which he was reading. Most of those to whom his figure in this attitude of absorption was perfectly familiar thought quite naturally that he was seeking light on some vexed governmental question. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1333 But one day when going to the White House to attend an important cabinet meeting an embarrassing incident occurred. He had just stepped down from his carriage in front of the gate of the White House, bear ing under his arm his large portfolio, an official-looking leather re ceptacle, when a group of correspondents who were standing at the entrance approached and saluted him. Mr. Lamar cordially returned the greeting, but in doing so he dropped his portfolio to the ground and some half-dozen Seaside novels tumbled out. With utter surprise but prompt politeness the correspond ents hastened to assist the secretary, who, somewhat abashed, now stooped to gather up the scattered volumes. Though he could have wished that the newspaper men had been in Halifax at this particular moment, he graciously thanked them for coming to his rescue, and stuffing the books back into his portfolio he walked with dignified step into the White House. Perhaps there are very few people who know that this dreamy man of genius, whose appearance suggested the bookworm and the scholar, was in reality an expert swordsman. Yet such is the fact. Soon after Mr. Lamar's death this incident was narrated by a gentle man whose name is not given, but whose identity is recognized. Said he: "I am a swordsman of no mean ability myself, and when I was em ployed at the Capitol several years ago I had a pair of foils which I brought cross the ocean with me. They afforded no end of fun. Conkling and Ingalls both tried them. "One day I was in the room of the committee on.public lands when Mr. Lamar came in. lie had just recovered from a spell of sickness and was rather weak. He eyed me for a moment and then, coming forward, said: " 'I used to use the foil myself, but I have almost forgotten how by this time.' '' Putting one of the blades into his hands I saw that he handled it as if he knew something about it, and I endeavored to engage him in a round. " 'No,' he replied. 'I'm" too weak now. Wait until later.' "About a month later he came in again and by this time he had fully recovered his strength. He said that he was now ready to try, and I got the foils down and adjusted the buttons, chuckling over the prospect. But I soon changed my mind. "He proved to be master of the situation. I resorted to all the tricks I knew, but every thrust was neatly parried. At last I found myself on the defensive. He hit me ten times a second and I might as well have had a straw to defend myself with. I was blue for a week afterwards." Mr. Lamar made friends with men in all ranks and walks of life. He was intimately acquainted with some of the best actors on the stage. He also had friends among skeptics and scoffers; but he was himself deeply religious. While in Washington on one occasion Robert G. Ingersoll, the noted infidel, called upon Mr. Lamar at the interior department, and in the Vol. Ill--S 1334 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS course of the conversation made many bright remarks, which Mr. Lamar is said to have enjoyed very much. But finally some flippant remark was made in ridicule of orthodox religion. Impatiently Mr. Lamar jumped to his feet, and, throwing his long hair back from his forehead, said: '' Ingersoll, I hope to see ihe day when you will come to Washington and preach the gospel. With your magnificent abilities and splendid oratory you could work a revival such as the world has seldom seen. I hope to see the day when this will come to pass; and you could not engage in any grander or nobler work." * LAMAB'S FAMOUS REPLY TO HOAR One of the most dramatic scenes enacted in either house of Congress since the war was the one which took place on the floor of the United States Senate, in the spring of 1879, when L. Q. C. Lamar, then a senator from Mississippi, but a native Georgian, locked argumentative horns with George F. Hoar, of Massachusetts, on an issue growing out of the political status of the former Confederate President, Hon. Jeffer son Davis. This was the occasion when Mr. Lamar used his celebrated figure of Prometheus bound to the rock. The discussion arose over a measure, which was then pending in Congress, to extend the act granting pensions to soldiers of the War of 1812, so as to make the act apply to veterans of the war with Mexico; and since Mr. Davis had been an officer of some note in the last named conflict, a proviso was offered to the bill, excluding Mr. Davis from the benefits of the proposed legisla tion. Several speeches were made in the course of the debate, by senators on both sides of the chamber, but Mr. Lamar was not drawn into the dis cussion until Mr. Hoar began to assail the character of the former Con federate chieftain, in language not only far from temperate but full of sectional bitterness. Though Mr. Davis and Mr. Lamar were not at this time in perfect accord upon certain issues affecting Mississippi poli tics, he felt it encumbent upon him not only as a Mississippian, but as an ex-Confederate, to repel the unjust charges heaped upon Mr. Davis. The language to which he took special exception in Senator Hoar's speech was as follows: "The Senator from Arkansas (Mr. Garland) has alluded to the cour age which this gentleman displayed in battle. I do not deny it. Two of the bravest officers of our Revolutionary War were Aaron Burr and Benedict Arnold." This was more than Lamar could stand. His fiery Huguenot blood was now fully aroused. With nervous impatience he occupied his seat until the Massachusetts Senator had finished speaking. Then, rising from his place, he addressed the chair in measured accents sharply con trasting with his suppressed emotions. "It is with reluctance, Mr. Pres ident, '' said he,'' that I arise to speak upon this subject. I must express my surprise and regret that the senator from Massachusetts should have wantonly flung this insult" . ' Vol. I, "Beminlscences of Famous Georgians," by L, L. Knight. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1335 Before he could proceed further Senator Edmonds, of Vermont, who was in the' chair, a most pronounced partisan, rapped him to order, say ing that it was against the rules of the,Senate for any member of the body to impute to a colleague wantonness of conduct. "I stand corrected," said Mr. Lamar, with a touch of sarcasm. "I suppose it is perfectly in order for certain senators to insult other senators, but they cannot be characterized by those who receive the blow." "The observations of the senator from Mississippi, in the opinion of the chair, "replied Senator Edmonds, "are. not in order." Mr. Lamar retorted. "The observations of the Senator from Mississippi, in his own opinion, are not only in order, but are perfectly and absolutely true." Realizing that he was face to face with an extraordinary situation, the presiding officer thought it best to refer the point of order to the Senate, and therefore merely said: "The Senator from Mississippi will take his seat until the question of order is decided." Lamar sat down. But he was not to be silenced. When a vote was taken on the point of order Mr. Edmonds was overruled. Thereupon the Mississippian was again accorded the floor. Resuming, Mr. Lamar said: '' Since my associates have found my language to be in order, I desire to say that if any part of it is offensive to any member of this Senate the language is withdrawn. I do not wish to offend the sensibilities of any of my associates upon the floor. What I meant by the remark is this: Jefferson Davis stands in precisely the' position in which I stand in which every Southern man, who believed in the right of secession, stands." This called forth another interruption. Senator Hoar now spoke up. He wished to make an explanation. Lamar yielded. Then said the New Englander: "Will the Senator from Mississippi permit me to assure him and other Senators on this floor, who stand like him, that in making the motion which I did a while since I did not conceive that any of them stood in the same position in which I supposed Mr. Davis to stand. Otherwise I should not have moved to except the gentleman from .Mis sissippi from the pension roll." Mr. Lamar instantly replied: '' The only difference between myself and Jefferson Davis is, that his exalted character, his pre-eminent talents, his well-established reputation as a statesman, as a patriot, and as a soldier, enabled him to take the lead in a cause to which I consecrated myself and to which every fiber of my heart responded. There is no distinction between insult to him who led and insult to those who followed.'' Here the speaker paused. At this juncture one could have heard a pin drop. The hush which rested upon the Senate during this momen tary interval was almost breathless. Lamar was preparing to spring his climax. 1336 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS This now came. Introducing it with the statement that Mr. Davis was asking 110 favors at the hands of the United States Government, but was living quietly, unostentatiously, peaceably, at his home in Missis sippi where though an outcast he was counselling the youth of Mis sissippi to obey the laws of the,land, Mr. Lamar then continued, in a voice which now fairly rivaled the music of the storm. Said he: '' The Senator from Massachusetts has sought to affix upon this aged man, broken in fortune and suffering from bereavement, an epithet of odium, an imputation of moral turpitude. Sir, it required no courage to do that; it required no magnanimity; it required no courtesy. But it did require hatred, and it did require bitter, malignant, sectional feeling, coupled with a sense of personal impunity. The gentleman, I believe, takes rank among Christian statesmen. He might have learned a better lesson from the pages of antiquity. When Prometheus was bound to the rock, it was not the eagle that buried his beak in the tortured vitals of the victim, but the vulture!" Having delivered himself of this thunderbolt, which fell with dramatic effect upon the ears of the Senate, Lamar quietly resumed his seat. Sev eral moments elapsed before the spell was lifted. Then one by one the senators ambled over to where Lamar sat and congratulated him upon what they declared to be the most signal rebuke ever administered in the upper branch of Congress. Opponents as well as colleagues shared in the ovation which he received; and while Senator Hoar is said to have disclaimed any feelings of bitterness or resentment on account of this episode, he was careful never to arouse again the sleeping lion. Even in Massachusetts the passage was discussed with complimentary allusions to the admired Southerner who had the courage to rebuke Hoar as well as the magnanimity to praise Sumner.* LAMAK'S TILT WITH CONKLING Another famous tilt in which Lamar figured ^during his senatorial career took place, on June 18, 1879, with Roscoe Conkling, of New York. Mr. Conkling was one of the most brilliant men in the republican party of the nation. Quick at repartee and ready in debate, he seldom met his match on the floor of the Senate, and he spoke with great force and effect on nearly every important public question. But, like most such men, he was somewhat vain of his accomplishments, and rather disposed to be domineering and dictatorial. The fact that he represented the great Empire State of New York gave him an immense advantage and also put him among the presidential possibilities. He lost no opportunity to exploit his claims in this respect, and the silken tassels of all his starched orations nodded coquettishly toward the White House in Washington. But he failed to reach his goal; and Mr. Lamar had probably as much to do with puncturing his aspirations as anyone else. The issue came up in this way: When the time arrived for acting upon some im portant measure, Mr. Lamar asked that the special order be deferred for twenty minutes until action could be taken upon the Mississippi River bill, which was then pending. Conkling was disposed to object, but Vol. I, "Reminiscences of Famous Georgians," by L. L. Knight. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1337 finally for diplomatic reasons decided to withdraw his dissent, saying that he relied upon the courtesy of democrats not to prolong the session beyond the usual limits fixed for adjournment. Several democratic senators nodded acquiescence. The Mississippi River bill was then taken up, after which the special order was called; but when the time came to adjourn it was found that a majority of the senators were in favor of taking final action upon the matter before con cluding the day's session. Mr. Lamar was in no wise to blame for this complication, but Mr. Conkling was determined to make him pay the penalty, and straightway proceeded to empty the vials of his wrath upon his devoted head. "Without mincing matters he charged him with hav ing acted in bad faith. Now, Lamar was not the man to sit quietly under such an imputation. He was getting on in years; but there was fire in the old volcano, though frost was on the crater. He was not in the habit of receiving blows without returning them, and he was too fixed and settled in his ways of life to adopt any other principle of action. He could match gentle ness With gentleness, but he could also repel scorn with scorn. Rising from his seat with a tiger-like spring, he faced his accuser. Said he: '' With reference to the charge of bad faith which the Senator from New York has intimated toward those of us who have been engaged in opposing these motions to adjourn, I have only to say that if I am not superior to such attacks, from such sources, I have lived in vain. It is not my habit to indulge in personalities; but I desire to say here to the Senator that in intimating anything inconsistent as he has done with perfect good faith, I pronounce his statement as a falsehood, which I repel with all the unmitigated contempt which I feel for the author.'' Great excitement followed this peal of thunder. Finally Conkling arose. Said he: "Mr. President, I understand the Senator from Mississippi to state in unparliamentary language that the statement of mine to which he referred was a falsehood, if I caught his word aright. Since this is not the place to measure with any man the capacity to violate decency or to commit any of the improprieties of life, I have only to say that if the Senator the member from Mississippi imputed or intended to impute to me a falsehood, nothing except the fact that this is the Senate would prevent my denouncing him as a blackguard and a coward." Applause from the republican side greeted this rejoinder. "With a victorious smile on his face, Conkling sat down. Then all eyes were turned upon Lamar. Quietly he arose to his feet, and in deliberate accents, suggestive of courage finely mixed with courtesy, and of won derful self-possession, he said: "Mr. President, I have only to say that the Senator from New York understood me correctly. I did mean to say precisely what he under stood me to say, and what I did say. I beg the pardon of the Senate for the unparliamentary language. It was very harsh; it was very severe; it was such as no good man would deserve and no brave man would wear." For once in his life Conkling was speechless. Blaine witnessed the 1338 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS tilt, and being a somewhat envious rival of Conkling's for political honors he enjoyed the discomfiture of the New York Senator. Leaving the hall arm in arm with one of his confidential friends, Blaine said with a chuckle: "Wasn't it rich?" The newspapers made great capital out of this encounter and the, whole country was treated to graphic accounts of the affair, served up in the best style of printer's ink. Some looked for an adjourned meet ing on the field of honor; but the challenge was never issued. Conkling doubtless reasoned that a mutilated senator stood just about as slim a chance of getting the electoral vote as a dead brigadier, and on the eve of such promising prospects he thought it prudent to take good care of his anatomy.* How SOME OF THE LAMAR NAMES ORIGINATED Curiosity has often sought an explanation for the unabridged given names which some of the members of the Lamar family of Georgia, especially in the branch to which the great jurist, L. Q. C. Lamar, be longed. As told by former Chancellor Mayes, of the University of Mis sissippi, a son-in-law of Mr. Lamar, the story is quite amusing. Accord ing to Doctor Mayes, in the family of John Lamar at Eatonton there lived an eccentric old bachelor uncle by the name of Zachariah Lamar, and that among the freaks of this old gentleman was an inordinate worship of great celebrities. He possessed an intimate acquaintance with all the notable characters of ancient history; but the bulk of his incense was by no means devoted to the illustrious shades of Greece and Rome. He also had his modern favorites, and divided his veneration almost equally between French and American men of eminence. He carried his rev erential zeal so far that even at family prayers he is said to have thanked the Almighty for the shining examples of virtue presented by the men of former times; and it was not at all unusual for the devout old gentle man to quote from the classic authors as freely as from the inspired oracles, when addressing the throne of grace. Since the edicts of fate denied him the privilege of bestowing the names of his favorite heroes upon' the children of his own loins, he was measurably compensated for the lack of offspring by being accorded the privilege of naming the young Lamars who came to brighten his brother's domestic hearthstone; and fearing that the increase might not be sufficient to exhaust the supply of heroic names, he began at once to confer double honor upon each new accession to the family circle. Four members of the household under the terms of this compact were christened: Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus, Mirabeau Bonaparte, Jefferson Jackson and Thomas Randolph. Years later, when the grandchildren began to arrive, Uncle Zachariah, having been graciously spared through another generation, appeared to be still jealous of his former prerogative; but in the meantime he had shifted the realm of his meditations from war and politics to physics and chemistry, with the result that the first grandchild was christened Lavoisier Legrande. * Vol. I, '' Reminiscences of Famous Georgians," by L. L. Knight. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1339 This is substantially the account given by Doctor Mayes; but, while the story is almost too good to be spoiled, it is not the Georgia version. From the information which the Georgia Lamars have on the subject the Uncle. Zachariah of the Mississippi legend was not an old bachelor uncle at all, but none other than Col. Zachariah Lamar, of Milledgeville, father of Mrs. Gen. Howell Cobb. Colonel Lamar was one of the most cultured men and one of the most influential citizens of Middle Georgia. He amassed a fortune partly by farming and partly by merchandizing, but he took an active part in the politics of his day, and was an ardent admirer of great men. It has been stated that John Lamar, of Batonton, married his own cousin, Rebecca. Rebecca was the sister of Zachariah Lamar, of Milledgeville; and whether or not Zachariah Lamar ever lived in his younger days with this couple at Eatonton, it is generally believed that he suggested the names which were adopted in the family counsels. Nevertheless, it is somewhat singular that he should have prescribed such lengthy appellations for his nephews and for his own chil dren have contented himself with names which had been honored in the Lamar family since the time of the French exodus. His daughter, who married Gen. Howell Cobb, was Mary Ann Lamar, and his son, who attained some distinction in literature, was John Basil Lamar.* THE LAST HOURS OP JUSTICE LAMAR Says a biographer of the great jurist (Dr. Edward Mayes) : "In December, 1893, Mr. Lamar, with his wife, left Washington, intending to visit again the Mississippi coast. On the day of his departure he was attacked, while en route, with an acute pain of the heart, and was obliged to lie over for two days in Atlanta, where he was entertained by Hoke Smith, Esq. He then left for Macon [Mrs. Lamar's old home], where there were great numbers of loving friends, and many reminiscenses of his early manhood. Here he remained until the end came. '' For a while Mr'. Lamar seemed to be improving. There were num bers who expected to see him within a few weeks resume his place on the Bench; but the great jurist was already entering the dark penumbra. He and Mrs. Lamar t were not staying at the latter's home in Macon, but were visiting Capt. W. H. Virgin, a son-in-law of Mr. Lamar's, in Vineville, a suburb. He made occasional trips to the city on the electric cars. On Monday, the 23rd of January, 1893, he called at the office of Capt. R. E. Park, in company with Doctor Flewellen, a cousin of Mrs. Lamar's. They sat for perhaps a half hour with Captain Park, discuss ing various topics, and when they left he carried with him several maga zines to read at night. He conversed freely with Doctor Flewellen while returning home on the car, and said that his exercise made him feel like mating a good meal. He dined with the family shortly after six o'clock and partook of his accustomed dishes with his usual appetite. '' Dinner over, he walked with the family into the sitting room, and * Vol. I, '' Reminiscences of Famous Georgians, "by L. L. Knight. t Mr. Lamar's second wife was Henrietta J. Holt, widow of Gen. William S. Holt, of Macon. His first wife was Virginia Longstreet, daughter of the celebrated Judge A. B. Longstreet, author of '' Georgia Scenes,'' and at one time president of Emory College, at Oxford. 1340 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS during the conversation extended Doctor Flewellen a cordial invitation to visit him in Washington the approaching summer. About 7:30 Doctor Flewellen left the house, commenting upon the apparent improvement in Justice Lamar's general health. But it was hardly fifteen minutes later when the jurist complained of symptoms of his old attack, also saying that his arms felt benumbed. He soon retired without any very unusual trouble; and the family were disposed to attribute his condi tion to exhaustion from the trip to town. After going to bed he com plained of suffocation, and it then became impossible for him to breathe freely until he was placed comfortably in a chair near the fire. He grew worse, however, and it soon became evident that he was sinking. '' Captain, Virgin boarded a street car and went at once for Dr. Parker, returning with the physician about 8:40. He was found to be speechless and unconscious., and to the physician evidently beyond the reach of help. His head hung almost limp in the hands of one of the attendants, who was relieved' by Captain Virgin. In this position his life passed out without a struggle, and so quietly and peacefully that those about him did not know the exact moment at which the soul took flight. In frequent conversations he alluded to his condition, but said that he was not afraid of death. His chief wish was to visit his father's grave and some of the scenes of his earlier years; but this was denied him. The thought of his Creator was his great consolation, and he died enjoying the full appreciation of the revealed truth. * * * "Every tribute was paid to his memory by state and nation. He was buried with civic honors in Riverside Cemetery, in Ma.con, on the banks of the Ocmulgee River, and thousands gathered beside the open grave to pay the last sad tribute of respect to the illustrious dead. In the fall of 1894 the remains of Mr. Lamar were removed to Mississippi and laid beside the wife of his youth and the mother of his children, in St. Peter's Cemetery, at Oxford."* RECOLLECTIONS OF GENERAL MIRABEAU LAMAR There are few persons in Georgia who remember Gen. Mirabeau Lamar. It was nearly eighty years ago that he left Columbus, Georgia, to achieve renown in the war for Texan independence; and, barring only an occasional visit home, he remained an exile throughout life from the land of his birth. Judge Alexander W. Terrell, of Texas, an emi nent jurist and diplomat, enjoyed the personal acquaintance of this extraordinary man who, next to Sam Houston, was the most illustrious of Texans. Says he: "The career of Mirabeau B. Lamar patriot, soldier, statesman, poet was one or the most remarkable in history. He was descended from a French Huguenot, who, after the destruction of La Rochelle, in 1628, found refuge in America. Lamar was born in Georgia, in 1798, and there he grew to manhood. He acquired only a common school education, for he preferred hunting, fencing, and horseback exercise to the confinement of the class-room. But he delighted in reading the ancient classics and the standard English authors, and thus .acquired *Dr. Edward Mayes: "Life of L. Q. C. Lamar." GEORGIA AND GEOEGIANS 1341 so correct a knowledge of the structure of his own language that few excelled him as a forceful and eloquent speaker." "I first saw General Lamar in 1853, when his long, jet black hair was tinged with gray. He was of dark complexion and about five feet ten inches tall, with broad shoulders, deep chest and symmetrical limbs. Prom under his high forehead blue eyes looked out in calm repose; while his cleancut, handsome features bespoke an iron resolution. "When twenty-eight years old he married Miss Tabitha Jourda.n, to whom he was tenderly devoted, for he had loved and courted her for years, and her death, while yet in the bloom of youth and beauty, so overwhelmed him with grief that he left Georgia, a homeless wanderer. In 1835 Lamar was next heard from on the frontier of Texas where, like Sam Houston, he appealed to the settlers with impassioned eloquence to revolt against the tyranny of Mexico. There was a strange parallel in the lives of these two great men. Each of them, when crushed by domes tic affliction, fled from home and friends. Each emerged from self-im posed exile to advocate on a foreign soil the cause of civil freedom; each became commander of a revolutionary army, and then president of a new republic; each remained unmarried during all the fierce years of the Texan Revolution, and each found at last in married life his supreme happiness with wife and children.'' "On March 6, 1836, the Alamo at San Antonio was stormed by an invading army under Santa Anna, the president of Mexico, and all its defenders were massacred; while a few days afterward one hundred and seventy-five volunteers were butchered in cold blood at Goliad by his orders, and after having surrendered. Two weeks afterward Lamar appeared again on the coast of Texas, at the abandoned town of Velasco, and started on foot to join the Texan army. Colonel Fannin, who was butchered at Goliad, had been the bosom friend of Lamar, and the latter was eager ,to revenge his murdered friend. On April 20, 1836, Houston's army, after a forced march of two days and a night, with no other food than parched corn, confronted on the smooth prairie of San Jacinto the army of Santa Anna, which outnumbered them two to one. That afternoon Walter P. Lane, while skirmishing, was attacked by three Mexican lancers, who wounded him as his horse fell. Lamar rushed to his rescue, and killing one of the enemy, put the others to flight, though wounded himself. The Texan infantry saw the heroic act, and shouted in admiration. He had won his spurs, and Houston at once put him in command of the cavalry, with the approval of all its officers. The next afternoon, at 4 o'clock, the Texan infantry advanced toward the Mexican line to the tune of an old love-song; but when finally within forty paces of the Mexicans the band struck up "Yankee Doodle." AVith clubbed rifles and knives they rushed upon the foe, hewing them down in the fierce onset. Lamar, though wounded, led the Texan cavalry on the right wing like-an avenging fury. He remained in the pursuit until sunset, and with his cavalry captured Santa Anna. The battle was over in eighteen minutes, and the Mexicans slain or made prisoners out numbered the Texans two to one. The latter lost only three men killed and twenty-seven wounded. '' Never before nor since in the annals of war was such a victory won 1342 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS by volunteers in an open field over such a superior force of disciplined troops, and never was a victory more far-reaching; for it secured inde-> pendence, resulting in the annexation of Texas to the Union, which pro voked the war of 1846 with Mexico. Under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo our flag was carried across the continent, while the area of the Union was doubled. Within ten days Lamar was made Secretary of War; in four weeks the Cabinet appointed him commander-in-chief of the army; in four months he was elected Vice-President of the Republic, and in three years President without opposition. No private soldier ever rose so rapidly from the ranks to supreme authority through so many important offices, military and civil. His style as a writer was not unlike his nephew's, L. Q. C. Lamar, the United States Senator. "During Lamar's term as President the frontier was extended and protected, Mexican invasions were repelled, Texan independence was recognized, treaties were made with great European powers, immense tracts of land were surveyed and dedicated to higher education, and a free school system was established the second on the Continent. France sent her minister to the Republic of Texas, and his residence, built with the gold of Louis Philippe, may still be seen in Austin. Time and official station had not yet soothed Lamar's domestic grief, and it was not until after seventeen years of loneliness that he met and married, in 1851, Miss Henrietta Maffitt, the beautiful and accomplished daughter of John Newland Maffitt, the great Methodist revivalist and orator of the South. When afterwards, in 1857, he was United States Minister to the Argen tine Republic, a beautiful Indian girl inspired his heart to compose "The Daughter of Mendoza," his best-known poem. After the end of his term as President, he kept severely aloof from partisan strife, and found his chief pleasure in the endearments of home, where he died, at Richmond, Texas, December 19, 1859. No suspicion ever tarnished his reputation.'' General Lamar * is buried at Richmond, Texas, his old home. The grave is covered by a horizontal slab of rough granite, about six feet and a half long by four in width. It was quarried from the hillsides of his adopted state. At the end of this slab, there rises a splendid shaft of Italian marble, twelve feet high, which rests upon a pedestal four feet square. On the west side of the shaft, in bold relief, is chiseled a shield bearing the name "Lamar," encircled by a beautiful wreath. Just a little below the point of the shield, on either side, project the muzzles of two cannon from among the leaves and flowers. On the east side of the shaft is the simple inscription: EX-PKESIDENT OF TEXAS DIED Dec. 19, 1859. Aged 61 years, 4 mos. & 2 days. * "Tombs and Monuments of Noted Texans," by Mrs. M. Looscan, in "Woolen's Comprehensive History of Texas/' Vol. I, p. 702, Dallas, 1898. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1343 BENJAMIN H. HILL : DRAMATIC INCIDENTS IN THE CAREER OF THE GREAT ORATOR The most colossal figure in Georgia during the days of reconstruction was Benjamin H. Hill, Georgia's foremost orator. He was a, statesman of proven fidelity, of keen insight into governmental problems, and of unquestioned moral courage. The spectacle which he presented in Davis Hall, in 1867, when oblivious to the presence of an armed soldiery, he hurled his terrific denunciations and his burning anathemas into the teeth of the men who represented the carpetbag regime in Georgia, is wholly unique; and together with the dramatic figure of the rugged old governor who denounced fraud and tyranny in the earlier days of Georgia, it will be treasured in the enduring affections of the commpnwealth. The outlines of the picture will never need to be retouched. Judge Hill, in the excellent biographical memoir which he has writ ten of his distinguished father, thus narrates the circumstances: * "In 1867 the Reconstruction measures were passed by Congress and sub mitted to the Southern States for ratification. It is not the purpose of the writer to enter into a discussion of these measures. It is enough to say that they were enacted by a fanatical body of law-makers in bitter hatred of the South and for the purpose of degrading her people. A few citizens of Atlanta met together for the purpose of taking such action as might be deemed necessary to meet the exigency of the hour. These men looked around for leaders. Brown was advocating the prompt accept ance by the South of the terms proposed. Stephens was in silent despair at Liberty Hall. Toombs was abroad. Howell Cobb declined to give advice. Herschel V. Johnson promised to write a letter reviewing the situation. Mr. Hill came to Atlanta to confer with his fellow citizens. After doing so, he secured copies of the military bills and promised to give advice in a few days, at the expiration of which time he notified the gentlemen that he was ready to make a speech in Atlanta at such time as they might wish. July 10, 1867, is an ever-memorable day in the history of the South. On the night of that day a voice was raised in behalf of Southern honor and manhood for the first time since the sur render. The speech of Mr. Hill put courage in the place of despair, and that night the glorious fight for political redemption was inaugu rated." One who was present on this occasion describes the scene from the standpoint of an eye-witness. Says he: "The hall was insufficiently lighted and the pallor of men's faces in -the pit almost put to shame the lamps which here and there flickered. Mr. Hill appeared in a full dress suit of black. His superb figure showed to best advantage, his gray eyes flashed, and his face paled into dead white with earnestness. Just before he began, the Federal generals, in full uniform, with glittering staff officers, entered the hall and marched to the front, their showy uniforms and flushed faces making sharp contrast with the ill-dressed crowd of rebels through which they pushed their way, and sat in plain censorship over the orator and his utterances. With incomparable unconcern, Mr. *"Senator Benjamin H. Hill: His Life, Speeches and Writings," by Benj. H. Hill, Jr., pp. 50-51, New York, 1891. 1344 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS Hill arose. The threatening presence of the soldiers, the jails which yawned behind them, the dangers which the slightest nod from the officers might bring, had no effect upon him. Without hesitation he launched his denunciations upon them and upon the power which they represented. For two hours he spoke as mortal seldom spoke before, and when he had done Georgia was once more on her feet and Georgians were organized for the protests of 1868 and the victories of 1870." At the famous Bush-Arbor rally, in Atlanta, during the summer of 1868, an account of which is elsewhere given, Mr. Hill made another speech, of equal length and power, in which he again unloosed the light nings of his magnificent intellect. Though Toombs and Cobb spoke frpm the same platform, it is conceded by every one present that the most terrific arraignment and the most soul-stirring eloquence which this heated hour in Georgia called forth came from the impassioned lips of Mr. Hill. It was during the turbulent period between his Davis Hall and his Bush-Arbor, speeches that the great orator wrote his celebrated "Notes on the Situation," perhaps the finest specimens of invective to be found within the whole range of American letters. Says Mr. Grady: "In my opinion they stand alone as the profoundest and most eloquent political essays ever penned by an American. They were accepted as the voice of the South, uttering her protest and her plea, and as such were discussed on the streets of London and on the Boulevards of Paris, no less than in the cities of the North. Even now they stir the blood and kindle the pulse of the most phlegmatic reader, yet this is but a hint of the sensation which they produced when printed. Had Mr. Hill never delivered one speech, his 'Notes on the Situation' would have stamped him as one of the greatest men Georgia ever produced.'' Contributing both his voice and his pen to the iron literature of the times, he prac tically reorganized the democratic party and inaugurated the movement which eventually redeemed the state from the infamies of reconstruction. Though Mr. Hill opposed secession and, in the convention at Milledgeville, made one of the greatest efforts of his life against the mistaken and fateful policy of withdrawing from the. Union, he became one of the most ardent champions of the Confederate cause. He made a number of speeches in Georgia to counteract the local effect of the controversy between Governor Brown and President Davis. In the Confederate Con gress he was the recognized mouthpiece of the latter; and even when hope was abandoned he continued to cheer with his eloquence the despondent armies of the South. On one occasion his zeal for the admin istration brought him into violent collision with William L. Yancey, a senator from Alabama whose views upon certain pending issues were somewhat divergent. The controversy related to the establishment of a Supreme Court. The lie was passed, and an inkstand in the hands of Mr. Hill was hurled with vigorous propulsion at the head of Mr. Yancey, Reports of the affair have been greatly exaggerated. It has even been said that the death of the great apostle and advocate of secession was due to the injury which he received in this encounter. Judge Hill nar rates the facts in connection with the unfortunate occurrence as follows. Says he: " An exciting debate had been in progress for several days, in GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1345 which Mr. Yancey was making severe attacks on the administration and Mr. Hill was defending it. Mr. Yancey, in the course of one of his speeches, asserted that a statement made by Mr. Hill was false and known to be false when spoken. As soon as the words were uttered, Mr. Hill threw an inkstand at the speaker, striking him on the cheek bone. The wound produced was not at all serious and after a few minutes Mr. Yancey resumed his seat, making no further allusion to Mr. Hill. The matter was adjusted by friends of both Senators, and no reference was ever made .to the occurrence by either of them.'' The following version of the affair is taken from Mr. Yancey's home paper, the Bulletin, published at Montgomery, Ala.: '' The facts in a nut-shell are these, as we learned them subsequently to the removal of secrecy from the Senators who witnessed the affair. In the midst of a warm debate, in open session, Mr. Hill animadverted upon the record of Mr. Yancey. At the conclusion of Mr. Hill's speech, Mr. Yancey rose to reply, and, during his speech remarked that what the Senator from Georgia had said in regard to his record was false and that the Senator knew it was false when he made the statement. Whereupon Mr. Hill threw a glass ink-stand from aslant the position of Mr. Yancey, striking him on the point of the cheek-bone, which made a sharp cut, producing quite a flow of blood, but causing no serious injury. The Senate went into secret session, took the matter in hand and settled it. Long after ward Mr. Yancey died at his residence, near this city, from an affection of the kidneys from which he had suffered for years.'' Judge Hill states that Col. Benjamin C. Yancey, the senator's brother, and Capt. Goodloe H. Yancey, his son, continued uninterruptedly to be Mr. Hill's warm friends and loyal supporters until his death. The latter, at a meeting of the Ninth District Democratic Committee, in 1882, drafted and pre sented the beautiful set of resolutions, inspired by Mr. Hill's long illness. There were many other dramatic episodes in the career of this illus trious Georgian. His reply to Blaine is one of the great classics of modern eloquence. This speech delivered in the national House of Rep resentatives, January 11, 1876, effectually rebuked the partisan spleen of the ambitious senator from Maine, who was making a bid for the presidential nomination. It also fastened the responsibility for the socalled prison horrors of Andersonville upon the dominant political party in the nation. From beginning to end, this masterful speech of Mr. Hill sounded the clearest note of patriotism. Its effect was electrical. It went far towards healing the breach between the sections. It was instrumental in no small degree in securing the popular vote of the country for Mr. Tilden; and it promoted the matchless orator himself to the Senate of the United States. In this most exalted of public forums he gathered fresh laurels. His arraignment of Kellogg, in the Louisiana election contest, and his denunciation of Mahone, for affiliating with republicans after being elected by democrats, were pronounced masterpieces of invective worthy of the Athenian who denounced King Philip. The eminence achieved by Mr. Hill in the councils of the nation, his prestige as an orator, his fame as a political essayist, and his genius as a broad-minded and patriotic statesman all these impart an element of romance to the picture which the future senator presented when a 1346 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS raw youth of eighteen, in a home-made suit of gray jeans, his long coat almost sweeping the ground and his short trousers scarcely reaching to his boot-tops, he first appeared on the campus of the University of Georgia. The verdure of the fields was distinctly imprinted upon the slim figure of the awkward country lad. It required no second look to tell that he hailed from the farm. But he gripped his studies like he gripped his plow-handles. He thrust his harrow into the soil of learn ing with an impulse of rugged strength. There was moral earnestness in the zeal with which he planted for an intellectual harvest. It taxed the combined resources of an overburdened household to send him to college. But he redeemed his promise to his mother by winning the first honor; and with the same sturdy hand which drove the team afield he plucked the toga of the American Senate. THE ABKEST OF ME. HILL After the war was over, Mr. Hill retired to his home, in La Grange, and calmly awaited results. Several of the chiefs of the Confederacy with their families gathered under his hospitable roof. There came the courteous and courtly Clay, for whose head the Federal Government offered $100,000. His brilliant wife was his devoted companion; and, when the publication of the reward for her husband's head came to her knowledge, with high and courageous spirit, she accompanied him to Atlanta and claimed the privilege of surrendering him to the authorities. There came also Stephen R. Mallory, the all-accomplished statesman, who out of nothing had organized a Confederate navy and driven the commerce of the United States from the seas. The brilliant and fiery "Wigfall, who had fought President Davis in the Senate with great bitter ness and had frequently met in high discussion the Confederate chief tain's ready champion, forgot the hours of contest and came to the faithful Hill in the hour of common sorrow. The elegant Sparrow, of Louisiana, with his colleague, the great lawyer,, T. J. Semmes, both of whom were Mr. Hill's able lieutenants in support of the administration, were also welcome guests. These men all came with their families, and it was an interesting group that gathered each day for the purpose of discussing the probable fate of their unhappy country. But they could not remain together long; already the enemy was on their track. So, after a few days, all but Mallory left the country in disguise. It is a sad reflection that of all this brilliant coterie then gathered together, only one is left all but one have passed into the rest of the beautiful beyond. Mr. Hill's slaves all remained with him * * * and during the time when the leaders of the Confederacy were gathered at his house and the Federal soldiers were in possession of the town, there was found no traitor among them all. Mr. Hill's immunity from molestation was also due to the fact that the officer in command of the Federal troops had given the most stringent orders to his soldiers to keep out of Mr. Hill's premises. Long afterwards he found that this consideration was shown because the officer, while a prisoner, suffering from a severe wound, had.been taken to the home of a niece of Mr. Hill's and kindly nursed back into health. It was thought by Mr. Hill that he would probably be arrested at GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1347 once. His prominent and ardent support of Mr. Davis and his efforts in behalf of the continuance of hostilities made him a conspicuous figure for exemplary punishment; and when several weeks passed by, and no soldier appeared on the scene, the hope was entertained that our con querors were going to be generous and permit our southern men to remain at home and aid in the work of rehabilitation. But in this hope we were disappointed. I shall never forget the night my father was arrested. We had all retired, and about midnight were aroused by a loud knocking at the front door. Without dressing, I at once rushed down to my father's bedroom. I found him already awake. A search was made for a match but there was none in the house, and I went outside to the servant's house for the purpose of getting a light. What was my consternation on opening the rear door to find the house surrounded by soldiers, standing on guard with muskets. Securing the light, I returned at once, but in the meantime the officer at the front door had secured an entrance and with a dozen men was in the bedroom. The officer in command gave Mr. Hill just ten minutes in which to get ready. He did not leave him for a second, and there was no opportunity for any private leave-taking from wife and children. Neither my mother nor any of the household evinced the slightest fear, but said good-by with courage and cheerfulness; my father was placed in front of the soldiers, and the order given to march. Anxious to find out where they intended to take him, I walked in front by his side. We moved rapidly down the long drive leading from the house to the street, and at the gate found another detail with Mr. Mallory in charge. The two rebels were placed in front, and the com pany moved rapidly through the silent streets of the little village to the depotj where a special train was waiting. The officers declined to give us any information as to the place of destination, and were a reticent and sullen set of fellows. I bade my father good-by and hurried back alone to my home, where I found the entire family and all the servants in a tumult of indignation. We afterwards learned that the reason for the time and hurry of the arrest was a fear of resistance and rescue by the citizens. Mr. Hill and Mr. Mallory were taken to Fort Lafayette, in New York Bay, and incarcerated in separate cells. They were not allowed any communication, and were treated with great indignity and. unkindness by the officials. My father had no money that would pass current in the North, and but for the kindness of two friends in Atlanta, who insisted on lending him $100 in gold, he would have suffered great privation. He was arrested in May and remained in prison until July following, * * * when he was paroled by the President.* "Wno Is JOE BROWN?" With the qualifying phrase omitted, this is the question which Gen eral Toombs is said to have asked when the news reached him out in the State of Texas that Joe Brown of Canton, Georgia, had received the * Benjamin H. Hill, Jr., in "The Life, Speeches, and Writings of Senator Ben jamin H. Hill, of Georgia." 1348 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS democratic nomination for governor, in 1857. This question, if really asked, may have been only an outburst of surprise occasioned by the unexpected in politics. Before leaving Georgia for Texas, to look after certain property interests, General Toombs had carefully canvassed the situation; and, having forecast the result, as he thought, with some degree of precision, he had not anticipated this sudden turn of affairs. It was like a bolt from the blue. The fame of the future chief executive was at this time by no means co-extensive with the area of the state. It was not much wider than the Blue Ridge Circuit. But the two men had met. They had faced each other, first, in Milledgeville, in 1850, when Governor Brown was a democratic state senator and General Toombs was a whig congressman. The latter was then a power in national affairs, while the former was just entering the polit ical arena. Some few years later they met again at Marietta, where General Toombs and Judge Cowart crossed swords in joint debate. There was nothing about the personality of the young state senator at this time to challenge special attention. He was younger than General Toombs by at least ten years. He was rather awkward in appearance; his figure slight though compact; and his face pale. He was what in ordinary parlance is described as '' raw-boned.'' Except for the impress of character which was stamped upon his clear-cut features and which expressed itself with peculiar force in his rigid mouth, whose lines denoted unshaken firmness and grim determination, there was little else to suggest the inherent power which lay concealed behind that slender frame. General Toombs may have lightly dismissed the mountaineer from his thoughts; but the mountaineer vividly remembered General Toombs. Speaking, in after years, of the profound impression which the kingly Georgian made upon him at this time, Governor Brown declared that General Toombs was the handsomest man he ever saw. Moreover, he was completely captivated by his fiery eloquence and paid unstinted tribute to his divine genius. Forgotten though he may have been for the time being, the moun taineer was accustomed to the silent solitudes, and to be unnoticed by the world occasioned him no concern. He had often scaled the rugged heights of the Blue Ridge Mountains; and now at the age of thirtyseven he stood upon an eminence which few men had ever succeeded in attaining. He had mounted by slow degrees and under serious difficul ties; and such was the quiet demeanor of the man, who calmly and patiently met all obstacles and permitted nothing to disturb his unruffled spirit, that he climbed almost unobserved. But nevertheless he climbed; and now as the chosen standard-bearer of the great democratic party for the high office of governor his name was heralded far and near. It even reached Texas. General Toombs was no doubt disturbed by the information which came from Milledgeville announcing the action of the state convention. On the issues of the day he had recently left the whig ranks and joined the democratic hosts; and he realized that his seat in the United States Senate depended upon the success of the party whose banner had been put into the hands of this comparatively unknown candidate. There is no spur like uneasiness. General Toombs managed to wind up his affairs in Texas with wonderful dispatch; and, inquiring when the next train GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1349 left for the East, he was soon bounding away over the iron rails to Georgia. It was on a little farm near Gaddistown, in Union County, Georgia, where he plowed the flinty soil with a steer, that the future standardbearer of democracy in Georgia spent the years of his boyhood. Yet this plain country-bred youth, whose constant companion until now had been a plowshare, and whose only home since childhood had been a log cabin, was the only boy in all the history of the state who was destined to be four times governor. He was also to be once a state sen ator, once a judge of the Superior Court, once a chief justice of the Supreme Court, and twice a representative in the Senate of the United States. Moreover, he was to accumulate what in his day was considered an immense fortune. He was to develop railroads and coal mines. And, remembering how he had struggled up the steeps, he was to assist other poor boys like himself to rise by giving to the State University the munificent sum of $50,000. Not since the penniless Gascon set out for Paris to become the great marshal of France had more of the elements of romance waited upon an expedition than now gathered about the slim figure 'of the farmer boy of Gaddistown as he slowly wended his way through the dust of the mountain road. And this is the youth whose unprecedented career is to answer the question: "Who is Joe Brown?" If General Toombs was disturbed by the action of the state democratic convention in nominating a man who possessed little or no experience as a campaigner, and who was hardly known except to the rural population which moved in the shadows of the Blue Ridge Mountains, he was actually dismayed .when the American or know-nothing party met in formal conclave and nominated Benjamin H. Hill. Benjamin* H. Hill was the foremost orator of the state, and few men have ever possessed such power to sway the masses as characterized the eloquence of this distinguished Georgian. General Toombs was not the only man in the democratic ranks who felt alarmed for the success of the ticket; nor was the first joint meeting between the candidates reassuring. The initial debate of the campaign was held at Athens, and when the passage at arms was concluded Gen. Howell Cobb wrote General Toombs that he thought the democratic candidate was badly worsted. This was only what General Toombs expected; but at this juncture he invited the democratic" candidate to visit him in Washington for the purpose of talking over the situation. Judge Brown accepted the invitation; and General Toombs surrendered some of his fears when he met the candidate face to face and noted his strong characteristics. Nevertheless it was agreed that General Toombs should chaperon him in making the rounds of the state. But Judge Brown 'had ever been an apt pupil in the hard school of experience. He never made the same mistake twice. He always profited by what he saw and heard. The result was that he improved with each successive appearance before the people. He understood the masses as his brilliant rival did not and could not; and they recognized him as one of themselves: a man whose sympathies and interests were all with them, Vol. Ill--6 1350 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS and whose superior intellect alone lifted him above them. The illustra tions which he used were drawn for the most part from country life; and his homely way of putting things went straight to the popular heart. An incident of the campaign which proved to have an important bearing upon the result was the presentation to the democratic candidate of an old-fashioned quilt which some of his admiring lady friends in North Georgia had made for him to sleep under in the executive mansion. Th*e know-nothings made all manner of fun of this garment, which they held up to popular ridicule; but while it was excellent sport to indulge in such merriment at the expense of Judge Brown, it was poor politics, and it only served to make.votes for the democratic candidate by identi fying him more completely with the masses whose favor he was seeking. Before the campaign was two weeks old Judge Brown had acquired the art of successful public speaking to such an extent that General Toombs no longer considered it necessary to continue his guardianship over the democratic candidate; and returned to his home in Washington much better pleased with the outlook, if not confident of the result. "When the campaign was concluded and the result was announced, it was found that the mountaineer had run 10,000 votes ahead; and in view of the heated character of the campaign, the victory for the demo cratic ticket was most pronounced. There was no one left in the state who could now plead ignorance concerning the personality of this remarkable man who had been entrusted with the democratic banner. If any one had desired information General Toombs could have given him all he needed; but the developments of the campaign, and especially the emphatic declaration of the ballot-box, had saved him this trouble by answering the worn-out question which was now buried with military honors on the battlefield: "Who is Joe Brown?" ANECDOTES OP GEORGIA'S WAR GOVERNOR Governor Brown, on his way to Canton, once remarked to some men who were with him: '' There is the field, gentlemen, where I was tying wheat on the day I was first nominated for Governor of Georgia,'' indi cating a field lying along Town Creek. '' I was then Judge of the Blue Ridge Circuit," he continued, "and, coming home one day, I went to the field after dinner to see how my hands were getting along with the work. Four men were cutting wheat with common cradles, and the binders were very much behind. So I pulled off my coat and pitched in, about half after 2 o'clock p.m., on the 15th of June, 1857. The weather was very warm, but' I ordered the binders to keep up with me, and though the perspiration streamed down my back, I kept the men going. About sundown I went home, and after shaving was in the act of washing my face for supper, when Col. Weil, now an attorney in Atlanta (1881), but then living in Canton, rode up rapidly to the house. He came in, and excitedly said to me: 'Judge, guess who is nominated for Governor at Milledgeville 1' I did not have the remotest idea that I was the man, but I thought from what I had heard that John E. Ward was the most prominent candidate, so I guessed him. 'No,' said Col. Weil, 'it is Joseph E. Brown, of Cherokee.' Col. Weil was in Marietta GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1351 when the telegram came announcing my nomination. I subsequently; ascertained that the nomination had been made about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and at the very time I was tying wheat in this field. It is said in Canton that two or three men lately have been trying to buy . it they want to sow it in wheat year after next." * "I knew his parents before he was born. They were exceedingly poor. Joe cultivated a scrap of hillside land with a pair of bull-calves, and every Saturday hauled to town some potatoes or cabbages, or lightwood or other truck in trade, and took back something for the family. In 1839, I think it was, I was riding to Canton in a buggy, and I over took a young man walking in a very muddy lane. He carried a striped bag, hung over his shoulder, and looked very tired. I asked him if he would not take a seat, and he looked down at himself and said he was too muddy, and would dirty up the buggy. I insisted, and he broke off a splinter from a rail, scraped his shoes, and jumped in. I learned from the youth that his name was Joe Brown and that he was going to Canton to get something to do. I have kept an eye on him for forty years." t Ever full armed was the American backwoodsman, who was proficient with the rifle and ax. The slender boy at an early age was master of both. More than once, when quite an old man, he spoke to me with obvious pride of his success at the shooting matches for "beef," which, even now are not unknown in the Georgia mountains. The contesting riflemen fire at a mark. The beef has been butchered. It may sur prise the uninitiated to know that it has been divided into five quar ters; and the fifth quarter is the first prize. The old statesman, in rem iniscent vein would say: '' Usually when my rifle cracked some bystander would exclaim, 'There goes the hide and tallow.' " It is no exaggera tion to add that in later years many of his political opponents, after similar matches with him, discovered that they also had been deprived of these important integuments. While excelling beyond his strength in the many exercises of youth, the boy did not deem it beneath his dignity to lighten the labors of his mother. Many a day, when it rained, he stood at the spinning wheel and skillfully spun the thread from which the clothing of the family was woven. Years later, when senator from Georgia, he was conducting a number of northern manufacturers through the halls of the first Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta. An exhibit was reached where the primi tive spinning wheel was contrasted with the latest mechanism for the manufacture of thread. In reply to some disparaging remark about the rude contrivance, the senator said: "Very good thread can be made on the old spinning wheel," and, taking the place of the girl who was en gaged in its operation, to the delight of the bystanders, he demonstrated that his industrious hand had not forgotten the cunning which in days long gone had lessened the burdens of his mother. For education, his early opportunities were very limited. I once met his first teacher, then a very aged man. He was a witness in a case of * From the Atlanta Constitution. t Gen. Ira R. Poster, quoted by Bill Arp in one of his letters. 1352 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS illicit distillation. To my surprise, he informed me that Joe Brown and MeKay, his father, went to school to him at the same time. He said, "Joe was the peartest boy I ever saw, and could work a sum according to the rule quicker'n lightning could trim a hemlock." His estimate of McKay's mathematical powers was not so encomiastic. To solve every problem, McKay Brown had a rule of his own, and it seemed to me that the venerable instructor yet cherished a vivid resentment at the bewilder ing results. Such were the environments of the childhood of Joseph E. Brown. Save for the pure blood and the strong brain of the unpreten tious but historic stock from which he came, there was not, in his day, in the remotest cove of the mountains, or in the humblest cabin of the wiregrass, a boy whose chances for distinction in life were less auspicious.*. To this day, in the Blue Ridge Circuit, very old men declare that Joe Brown made the very best judge they ever had. At times, it is true, he had to repress the familiarity of his political supporters. His valued friend on election day was Bob Ralston, a famous character of Gilmer County. Presuming upon his services, Bob bet a pint of apple brandy that he could, with impunity, go into court and give Joe Brown the Masonic sign. While not a Mason, Bob conceived that he had detected and acquired one of the most important signals of the ancient order. This was a snap' of the finger and at the same time a wink of the eye. Bob repaired to court, leaned against the bar, caught the attention of his honor, snapped his finger, and winked his eye. "Take that gentle man to jail until he cools off," was the unappreciative response from the bench. The next morning the resentful Bob made the streets of Ellijay vocal with the denunciations of the ingratitude of men in high places. On another occasion, Judge Brown convened court in one of the new mountain countries. There had been no time to build a courthouse, but a rude log structure had been hastily erected. The court was convened with the accustomed solemnities, and pretty soon discovered that the county bully was drunk. His screams and curses attracted the atten tion of the judge, who quietly said, "Mr. Sheriff, arrest that man who is creating a disturbance and bring him before the court." The sheriff, with several stalwart deputies, dragged in the offender. The judge ordered the prisoner to jail. "Why, your Honor," said the sheriff, "we have got no jail." "That's a fact," said the judge, "but have you no house where you ,> go except thou bless me." He ate with the pulley. He slept with the pulley. He rode horseback with the pulley. And, in. the fend, he mastered the subject, but all the while he kept saying to...-himself: "Cui boiio?" He could see no practical use in the pulley for James Longstreet, except to get him through West Point. On the second trial the professors were too wily to tax the student with the subject of the pulley. It was the sheer per versity of fate that, after making himself an authority upon this branch of human knowledge, he should not be called upon to display his scholas tic acquirements, but should rather be catechized at random on the entire year's course. Nevertheless, he managed to pass. Again, at the final commence ment he was subjected to another crucial test. The lapse of time had made'the professors somewhat forgetful. He was sent to the blackboard to elucidate that same old problem of the pulley. But he was ready this time. Even old Euclid himself could not have surpassed that demon stration. It was soundly orthodox according to the most rigid standards. Longstreet fairly amazed the professors. Down to the last day of his life he continued to live on intimate terms with his old friend, the pulley; but he died firmly convinced of the fact that so far as he was concerned the pulley was like the picturesque feather on the topknot of the eagle: intended more to embellish the headpiece than to further the flight of the imperial bird. 1392 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS GEORGE F. PIERCE : THE DEMOSTHENES OF SOUTHERN METHODISM It was in 1844 that Bishop George F. Pierce leaped into national prominence as an orator. He was then in his thirty-third year; and, after winning honors at the famous general conference in Baltimore, which witnessed the partition of Methodism over the issue of slavery, he repaired to the annual meeting of the American Bible Society, in New York, where one of the grandest efforts of his life was delivered. Among the other men of note who spoke from the same platform, were Lord Ketchum and Senator Freelinghuysen. They spoke with great earnest ness but the speeches were tame and commonplace compared with the glowing periods of the brilliant young Methodist divine from Georgia. Doctor Smith, in his excellent biography of the bishop, has preserved the fragmentary notes of this wonderful address. BISHOP GEOKGE F. PIERCE, THE DEMOSTHENES OP SOUTHERN METHODISM At the general conference in Baltimore, the youthful orator came boldly to the defense of James 0. Andrew, around whom were crackling the fires of an inquisition as persistent and as bitter as was ever wit nessed in the Netherlands. The picture which the young champion presented at this time is thus described: "He was a born ruler of men, and bore the kingly look on his face. His form had developed until he weighed one hundred and eighty pounds, and, while young, he bore the aspect of a man of greater years. His whole heart was in this matter. He was intensely indignant and thoroughly aroused. Bishop Andrew was his dearest earthly friend. He had heard him censured, belittled, ridiculed. Moreover, the whole South was struck by the blow aimed at Bishop Andrew; and no Southern man, however gifted, however useful, however pure, could be chosen a Bishop after this if, by any complica tion whatever, he had become involved in the ownership of slave prop erty, such as members of the church had held from the days of Abraham. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1393 He rose to reply. The excitement was intense, the house was crowded. He was recognized on all sides as one of the most eloquent men in the body and expectation was high." As the result of the great debate, Methodism in America was rent asunder. But to show the equanimity of temperament which charac terized the young Georgian, the following incident is recorded: Rev. Jesse T. Peck took the floor, at the conclusion of Mr. Pierce's speech. He hailed from the State of New York; and though not an old man, was very portly and very bald, which made him appear somewhat mature. His manner was extremely patronizing. Moreover, he said some very harsh things; but Mr. Pierce, taking the floor for the second time,' replied in the best of spirits. He even complimented the young man, after which he ended with this clever stroke: "And now, sir, though my former speech may have shocked your nerves, I trust my explanation will not ruffle a hair on the crown of your head.'' Going back to the outset of his career, an amusing anecdote is told of his first appearance as a candidate for licensure to preach. The presid ing elder of his circuit was John Collinsworth, a man of iron whom neither fear nor favor could deflect from the straight path. He was governed by the strictest rules of propriety, some of which were quite antiquated. According to his notions, a Methodist was a man set apart; and he must show by every mark, external as well as internal, that he was a stranger to worldliness. It happened that young Pierce's hair arose somewhat abruptly from his forehead, or, to quote John Collins worth, "stood up." He also gave offense to the good man by coming to church in a suit of blue broadcloth, with brass buttons, and by wearing a smile which indicated a lack of proper seriousness. As for the youth's apparel, it was the suit of clothes in which he graduated at Athens: the gift of his fond father. But-John Collinsworth was bent upon doing what he conceived to be his duty in the matter; and on the day he was to appear before the session of the church he said to him, kindly but firmly: "George, these people want you to be recommended for license, but if you get the recommendation, this coat must come off.'' "But," insisted the youth, "I have no other Sunday coat." Still the old man was unmoved. "My son," said he, "this coat must come off." '' Well,'' retorted the youth, '' if yon are going to license my coat and not me, I will change it; but I do not expect to change it until I am obliged to get another.'' The church meeting was held. For some time the officers deliberated; but the preacher was on the minority side. At the end of the argument, George's swallow-tail coat still held the field. But the old man was not thoroughly reconciled and some time later he said to the young man: "George, why do you wear your hair like you do? Bishop Asbury brushed his down. You brush yours up." "I have a cowlick, Uncle Collinsworth," replied he. "Besides, God made my hair to grow up, and I cannot make it grow down." Thereupon the old man dismissed the subject by telling George that 1394 .GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS he was too airy. It was an amusing episode, but the scruples of John Collinsworth well illustrate the simple habits of life which characterized the early pioneers of Methodism. In due time George was licensed to preach. Twenty-five years later he was elevated to the episcopal bench and for thirty years he held the highest office in the gift of the great religious communion to which he belonged. Prom the Atlantic to the Pacific his fame as an orator was eclipsed by none.* LOVICK PIERCE: THE NESTOR OP SOUTHERN METHODISM Dr. Lovick Pierce reached the ripe old age of ninety-four years. He was one of the most dramatic figures in southern Methodism; and, dur ing the ante-bellum period was one of the most eloquent men in the pulpit, either North or South. The style of preaching in which he excelled was expository, and some of his efforts were characterized by great power. He was not only a minister of the gospel but also a doctor of medicine. As an orator, when at his best, he was scarcely inferior to his gifted son, the distinguished bishop. The latter began at one time to write a life of liis father, but growing infirmities, together with the demands of the high office which he held, made it necessary for him to relinquish the task. However, the biographical fragment has been incor porated by Dr. George G. Smith in his excellent biography of Bishop George F. Pierce; and from it the following extracts are taken: "My father kept no diary, no journal. There are no facts, or dates, or records, outside of fragmentary notices in the public prints and in the conference minutes. My memory is the sole depository on which I can draw. I persuaded him, twenty years ago, to write an autobiography. This he did at great length. It was not so much a narrative of himself as it was a commentary upon his times. But the document was unfor tunately left in Columbus when he came to live permanently with me; and, amid the confusion of the war, when removing his furniture from place to place, this, with other manuscripts, was mislaid. The loss is irretrievable. During my father's sojourn in my family, it was one of our nightly pastimes to induce him to talk of the past. He was never garrulous, he did not live in the years gone by, like other old men. He lived in the present and scanned the future almost with a prophet's eye. Current events and prospects ahead these were the staple of his thoughts and the topics of his conversation. He was well-nigh always serious and meditative, yet for his own relief and for the entertainment of his children, he would indulge in reminiscences. He enjoyed these interviews very much, and my children and children's children will never forget how old grandfather at once amused and instructed them in these fireside talks. He and I alternated in our morning and evening devo tions. As we rose from our knees and resumed our seats, with sparkling eyes, he would say: ' George, the psalm you read tonight carried me back to my beginning. In 1806 I heard George Dougherty preach one of his mighty sermons' on such a verse, indicating which it was, and then telling of the wonderful results. Starting thus, he would describe scenes and narrate incidents. In his judgment, George Dougherty was the greatest man in Southern Methodism. * George G. Smith, in "Life and Times of George P. Pierce, D. D., LL. D. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1395 "There was nothing of which to be ashamed in my father's character. Even his weak points leaned to virtue's side and were attributes of which others were the beneficiaries, while he was the victim. I never knew a purer man. There were no chasms or spasms in his religious life. AVith him, conduct always responded' to the claims of duty, 'as the dial to the sun. He never magnified his attainments in grace under the guise of professing what the Lord had done for him. In his youth and prime he was a fine specimen of manly beauty; in height, five feet ten inches, in weight, one hundred and forty-five pounds; his complexion dark, his hair black, his eye, deep hazel and full of expression. His features were all harmoniously blended/ His voice as flexible as a flute, strong and rich. Speaking never made him hoarse. I have known him to preach three sermons in a day, each three hours long, and then sing the doxology with as clear a tone as when he rose in the morning. There was no flagging, no crack, no strain. It was smooth distinct and, at times, percussive as a peal of thunder. Its force was perhaps better adapted to the terrible than to the tender. His reasoning powers were well developed. His imagination was bold and fertile. His power of concentration exceeded any man's I ever knew. He could hold his mind to a chosen subject with military precision. His thoughts never broke ranks. '' To the last he was a student. But he was largely a man of one book. His reading was never extensive or varied. Theology was his theme. Milton he read once. Shakespeare he never read at all. In all his instincts he was a born gentleman. He did not have one set of manners for the parlor and another for the bed-chamber, but was always polite and considerate of others; likewise, he was always neat in his person and dress. Whether traveling in stage or car, in wet or dry weather, while others were stained, he managed to keep himself unsoiled. I have known him to preach for two hours and a half, when the thermometer was up among the nineties, without a sign of moisture on his face or head. His body perspired freely but, like Gideon's fleece, his hair and face were dry, when all around was wet with dew." * "It was said of Dr. Pierce that he was as proud of his son George as a peacock is of his feathers. At the famous meeting of the American Bible Society, in New York, in 1844, Bishop Pierce was one of the speakers. The old doctor, who was long an agent of the society, occu pied a seat in the audience. He listened with rapt attention to the wonderful address. The orator of the occasion was then only thirty-three. But the speech was one of his masterful efforts; and though Lord Ketchum and Senator Freelinghuysen both spoke, the young Methodist preacher bore off the honors. The enthusiasm was intense. Dr. Jeffer son Hamilton was sitting by Dr. Lovick Pierce, and, overcome with excitement, he said eagerly to the doctor: " 'Did you ever hear the like?' " 'Yes,' replied the fond father, complacently, 'I hear George often.'"t * Bishop George F. Pierce, in '' Sketch of Dr. Loviek Pierce,'' incorporated in Dr. Smith's life of the former. t George G. Smith, in "Life and Times of George F. Pierce, D. D., LL. D." 1396 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS His educational advantages were exceedingly limited, in spite of which, however, he early reached the highest distinction as a preacher, though he never attained to episcopal honors. Not less than Edmund Burke, he was ill adapted to the leadership of deliberative assemblies. Bnt as a preacher of the everlasting gospel he had few equals and no superiors in the American pulpit. He had neither the thorough schol arship nor the analytical power of Stephen Olin. John Summerfield surpassed him greatly in the mere art of persuasion. Bishop Bascombe excelled him in the thunderous oratory which reminds us of an ocean swell. Yet as a preacher, in the Pauline acceptation of the term, he was not a whit behind the chiefest of his contemporaries. One grand ele ment of his success was his apostolic saintliness of character. Next was his mastery of the Holy Scriptures and his wonderful gift as an extem poraneous speaker. He possessed an imposing presence. His voice was an orotund, not acquired but natural. His articulation was uniformly distinct, and his manner of delivery sometimes vehement, but never offensively boisterous. Doctor Pierce did not lag superfluous on the stage. He wrote or preached almost to his dying day. At times he was oppressed with sorrow, but the reaction was always speedy. It was in one of his jubilant moods that he sent to the churches this message: '' Say to the brethren I am living just outside the gates of Heaven.'' * THE LE CONTES : WHY THEY LEFT GEORGIA Two of the most illustrious of American scientists were John and Joseph Le 'Conte, both of whom were for years identified with the Uni versity of California. They were sometimes styled "the Gemini of the scientific heavens." These brothers were native Georgians. They were educated at Franklin College, and soon after graduation were made professors in the institution. Except for an unfortunate policy which, measured by present day standards, was exceedingly narrow, the Le Contes might have remained in their native state and have given to their alma mater the distinguished talents which have placed them, in the front rank of American scientists. But Doctor Church, though in many respects an administrator of rare excellence, was ultra-conservative. In the exercise of discipline he took the position that the university system was too advanced to meet the needs of the immature students who attended Franklin College, and he sought to keep the boys in check by means of the primitive instrument of juvenile torture concerning which Solomon on one occasion spoke in very high terms. But the Le Contes refused to cooperate with Doctor Church in apply ing kindergarten methods to the control of matriculants many of whom could have sprouted beards as long as Ingomar's had not the barbarian appendages been somewhat out of fashion at the time in gentle Athens. Against the policy of paternalism the brothers rebelled. They regarded such measures of discipline not only as below the standard of the ordinary high school but as little removed from the tactics of the nursery, and they declined to execute orders which they. thought were calculated to * W. J. Scott, in '' Biographical Etchings of Ministers and Laymen of the Georgia Conferences.'' i GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS ' 1397 suppress rather than to encourage true manliness. Consequently, Doctor Church complained to the board of trustees that the Le Contes were guilty of insubordination; and, since some of the members were fossils who belonged to the Paleozoic period, the Le Contes were subjected to the frown of the august powers. Another matter which served to accentuate the breach lay in the sphere of doctrine. The Le Contes accepted the geological theory of creation which Dr. Church abhorred as the rankest heresy and attrib uted to the Machiavellian craft of old Nick himself. But the doctrine was distasteful at the time to all the orthodox churchmen; and the Le Contes were regarded as the sowers of dangerous seed. This in spite of the fact that both were men of blameless lives and pure morals. Too proud to remain in the faculty, under such adverse conditions, the brothers resigned, and Franklin College awoke eventually to realize that, worse than the base Indian who threw away only one pearl of surpassing value, she had been blind enough to relinquish two. More in grief than in bitterness, the Le Contes quit Georgia, first to become joint instructors of the youth of South Carolina, on the opposite side of the Savannah River, but eventually, upon the Sierra slopes, to become twin giants in the titanic group of the great Sequoias. But the story is not yet fully told. The Le Contes were not the only members of the faculty who withdrew from the classic groves of Athens in consequence of the famous rupture of 1856. Upon the issues already indicated, the faculty seems to have been divided into two hostile fac tions. "William LeRoy Broun and Charles S. Venable were also among the advanced thinkers who felt the chill blast of the northwest wind; and they, too, decided to carry their wares to other markets. Professor Broun eventually returned, but Professor Venable took the path of the raven. He went to the University at Charlottesville, became the noted adjutant on the staff of General Robert E. Lee during the Civil war, and afterwards compiled the popular text-books on mathematics. At the time of the upheaval in the faculty, Mrs. John Le Conte was one of the reigning belles of Athens; but another rare beauty with whom she divided the social scepter was Mrs. Craig, formerly Miss Lizzie Church. She was old Doctor Church's daughter. This meant that the war which divided the Areopagus was carried into the town and renewed under the chandeliers of the Athenian parlors. It recalled the rumpus which once occurred in Jupiter's dining room. But unhappily there was no Paris to award the prize. Each lady possessed a host of enthu siastic followers who toasted her as the queen paramount. Not only the men but the women themselves took up the fight, and Mr. Gus Hull says that it was only the conservative influence of the elderly element which prevented another War of the Roses. THE LE CONTE PEAR : ITS ORIGIN It was in the neighborhood of Thomasville, Georgia, that the famous Le Conte pear was first cultivated on a scale which began to attract the attention of fruit-growers in other parts of the world. Col. L. L. Varna- Vol. Ill--9 1398 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS doe, a native of Liberty County, purchased a plantation near Thomasville, at the close of the Civil War, and on removing .to this plantation he brought with him a cutting from one of the pear trees, called a Chinese Sand Pear, on which John Le Conte had been experimenting. Colonel Varnadoe's success was phenomenal, and from this one cutting has come a yield whose value and extent defies the mathematician. Judge John L. Harden, of Savannah, a kinsman of the Le Contes, is quoted by the late Doctor Stacy, of Newman, on the subject of the Le Conte pear, to the following effect: "In 1850 my great uncle, John Le Conte, purchased from Thomas Hogg, a nurseryman of New York, a small pear tree. He was told by Mr. Hogg that the fruit was of inferior quality, and fit only for preserving; that it would not mature its fruit so far north as New York, but that it might do so in the South; that it was the Chinese Sand Pear. The tree was given to my mother, and when it grew large enough it produced fruit which, to our surprise, was of excellent quality. The original tree is forty-five years old, 1895, and is still productive and vigorous, although sadly neglected. It has borne twenty bushels in one year, after allowing for what may have been stolen.'' At the close of the late war, the people of Liberty County were in straightened circumstances, and quite a number of them emigrated to Southwestern Georgia. Among them was Col. Leander L. Varnadoe, a native of the county and a member of the old church. Upon the sug gestion of his uncle, Mr. William Jones, that the tree might be propa gated from the cutting, and that the fruit might be profitably raised in the section whither he had moved, Colonel Varnadoe secured quite a number of cuttings and took them with him and planted them at his home near Thomasville. Pie was soon delighted to see that the idea was a happy one, and to find himself the owner of an orchard of vigorous trees, yield ing abundantly of luscious fruit for the market. Cuttings were soon in great demand; and from this little beginning the whole southern country has been covered with Le Conte pear trees. Many have made not only livings, but even fortunes, by investing in them. To give some idea of the impoverished condition of our people at the close of the war and to show what a happy hit was the idea of promoting the cultivation of this pear from cuttings, I narrate the following inci dent: On the return of Colonel Yarnadoe from the war, it is said that his first bill of fare was so meagre and uninviting that he jocosely. remarked to his wife: '' Annie, if you can, you may do so, but I cannot say grace over such a dinner." Some few years after his removal to Thomasville, he was offered . $10,000 cash for his pear farm, which he very wisely refused. The old mother tree, from which the millions now in cultivation throughout the Southland have sprung, was seen by the writer some time ago. It is sixty inches in circumference, and twenty-four feet in height. Until recent years it has shown no symptoms of blight. Such a tree is not only worthy of mention but deserves a conspicuous place in a collection like this.* * Dr. James Stacy's '' History of the Midway Congregational Church.'' GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1399 CHIEF JUSTICE BLECKLEY AS A WIT The traditions of the Georgia bench for wit have been notably main tained within the memory of the present generation, and in the highest judicial forum of the state by former Chief Justice Logan B. Bleckley. The wit of this celebrated jurist was second only to his keen discriminat ing faculty in observing subtle distinctions of law. Among the manifold deliverances which have come from the pen of Judge Bleckley there is scarcely one which is not bathed in the smile of his perennial good humor. He meted out equal and exact justice to all litigants without fear or favor; but he ever bent over the scales with an unclouded brow. Asked on one occasion how he managed under the pressure of so much official business to word his decisions with such delicate regard for lights and shadows and with such careful precision, he replied: "I first revise and then I scrutinize. After I have done these, I revise the scru tiny ; and, finally, to be perfectly sure, I scrutinize the revision.'' In the case of a defendant who undertook to evade the law against retailing alcoholic stimulants, without a license, employing his cook to sell them in the kitchen, Judge Bleckley rendered this decision: '' There is little doubt that the defendant was the deity of this rude shrine and that Mary was only the ministering priestess. But, if she was the divin ity and he the attendant spirit to warn thirsty devotees where to drink and at whose feet to lay tribute, he is still amenable to the state as the! promoter of forbidden libations. Whether in these usurped rites he was serving Mary or Mary him, may make some difference with the gods but it makes none with men." Dissenting from the opinion of his colleagues in the case of Dodd versus Middleton, he demurred in the following fashion. Said he: "If I could be re-enforced by the votes as I am by the opinions of the Su preme Court of Massachusetts and the Court of Appeals of New York, I could easily put my brethren in the minority; but, as it is, they are two against one and I have no option but to yield to the force of numbersin other words to the tyranny of majorities. Though twice beaten, I am still strong in the true faith and am ready to suffer for it moder ately on all proper occasions.'' Once more. In discussing the instinct of justice which often makes for the goal even when the avenue of approach is not distinctly apparent, he couched his views in these terms, which he then rounded with an apt poetic quotation. Said he: "It not infrequently happens that a judg ment is affaired upon a theory of the case which did not occur to the court that rendered it, or that did occur and was expressly repudiated. The human mind is so constituted that, in many instances, it finds the truth when wholly unable to find the way which leads thereto: " 'The pupil of impulse, it forced him along, His conduct still right, with his argument wrong, Still aiming at honor, yet fearing to roam, The coachman was tipsy, the chariot drove home.' " Judge Joseph R. Lamar, of the Supreme Court of the United States, thus portrays Judge Bleckley: "Jurist, philosopher, mathematician, 1400 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS poet; a colossal and unique figure; mature in youth; in old age youthful; a born judge, his first public utterance was a plea for the creation of the court of which he was to be an illustrious Chief Justice.'' In per sonal appearance, this many-sided genius was somewhat grotesque. He was something over six feet tall, wore his hair to his shoulders and his beard to his breast, dressed inexpensively, and chose his garments to suit himself without regard to fashion. To quote a beloved former chan cellor of the University of Georgia, we close- with this paragraph from Hon. Walter B. Hill: "If I were asked to state in a word the most prominent characteristic of his mind, I should answer, provided I was first permitted to define the word, Wit. I do not, of course, mean mere drollery, although such is continually springing up in his dryest de cisions, like a fountain leaping from a bed of saw-dust and '' ' Shaking its loosened silver in the sun.' ' '* JUDGE BLECKLEY'S "LETTER TO POSTERITY" Several years ago the editor of The Green Bag, a magazine edited in Boston and devoted largely to the amenities of the legal profession, published over Judge Bleckley's signature an autobiography which, in many respects, is unique among literary productions. In forwarding this article to the publishers, Judge Bleckley prefaced what he had to say with the. remark that to supply photographs was merely to increase, the cost of living, but that to concoct autobiography involved psychological distress, .especially to a person whose stock of materials was no larger than his own. Nevertheless he acceded to the friendly overture; but, instead of following the lines of established precedent, he inaugurated an entertaining departure by addressing "A Letter to Posterity," in which he amusingly undertook to tell his descendants something about himself. The document in question is now one of the literary treasures of the Georgia bar. These few extracts are taken therefrom: '' To Posterity Greeting: I regret that I shall be absent when you arrive, and that we shall never meet. I should be pleased to make your acquaintance, but it is impossible to await your coming, the present state of the law of nature being opposed to such dilatory proceedings. There is no hope of amending that law in time for my case. Though aware of your approach collectively as a body of respectable citizens, I shall never hear of a single individual among you. Nor is it likely you will ever hear of me by name, fame, or reputation, unless with the aid of a microphone of extraordinary power. Nevertheless, if the highways between the ages remain in good condition and repair, this communication, though vir tually anonymous, may possibly reach you. In that event I bespeak for it your attention for one moment per generation, which, on a fair division of your valuable time, will be my full share and something over. I claim no vested right to your notice. If I have any color of title it is con tingent upon the quality of my services to the public as a member of the Supreme Court of Georgia. Of these services there is documentary evidence of a perishable nature in certain volumes of the Georgia Reports to which I refer with unaffected diffidence.. I must not be understood * Vol. I, '' Eeminiscenees of Famous Georgians," by L. L. Knight. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1401 as requesting you to read all my opinions. I have a theory that such writings might be terse, crisp, graceful, animated and entertaining; but mine afford few specimens of that kind. Yet, to treat them with justice, I am sensible that they are not more dry than those of some other judges. "I came to the bench as an associate justice of the Supreme Court in the summer of 1875, and resigned early in 1880, worn down and tired out. My last deliverance was 'In the Matter of Rest,' a brief judicial poem. I would conciliate the critical taste of future generations by craving pardon, not for the verses, but for the doubtful decorum of reciting them from a seat traditionally sacred to* the oracles of prose. The loss of my ability to labor without great fatigue made me long for rest, but did not weaken my conviction that labor is the twin brother of happiness, the moral of the poem. Others might have suggested it as well or better in prose, but I could not. Perhaps I ought to confess thatdivers other poems (happily none of them j.udicial) may be laid to my charge. During most of my life I have had a strong and to me unac countable propensity to metrical transgression. Over and over again have I suffered the pains and penalties of poetic guilt. Besides a score or two of convictions, I have had many trials and narrow escapes. But even now I am not a hardened offender, for a bashful hesitation, always tempers my gallantry with the Muses. "My resignation was the result of overwork, and overwork was the result of my ignorance of the law, together with an apprehension that I might be ignorant when I supposed I was not. To administer law it is desirable, though not always necessary, to know it. The labor of learn ing rapidly 011 a large scale, and the constant strain to shun mistakes in deciding cases, shattered my nerves and impaired my health. In its effect on the deciding faculty, the apprehension of ignorance counts for as much as ignorance itself. My mind is slow to embrace a firm faith in its supposed knowledge. However ignorant a judge may be, -whenever he thoroughly believes he understands the law of his case, he is ready to decide it, no less ready than if he had the knowledge which he thinks he has. And he will often decide correctly, for the law may be as he supposes, whether he knows it or not. My trouble is, to become fully persuaded that I know. I remained in private life until January, 1887, when on the death of Chief Justice Jackson I became his successor. "I will now recount briefly the principal events of my personal his tory prior to the beginning of my judicial career. I was born in the woods, amid the mountains of North-eastern Georgia, July 3, 1827. My native county, Rabun, had then been organized but seven or eight years, up to which period it was ttte wilderness home of Indians the Cherokees. At eleven years of age I commenced writing in the office of my father, who at that time was a farmer without any lands and tenements, and with very few goods and chattels. He lived in a rented homestead, one mile from Clayton, the county town, and was clerk of three courts the superior, inferior, and ordinary. He was a man of strong intellect, fair information, and some business experience. He had been sheriff of the county. A more sterling character was not in the world, certainly not in that large group called the middle class, to which he belonged. Loyal to truth, he scorned sham, pretense, and mendacity. He was a native 1402 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS of North Carolina, as was my mother also. His blood was English and Irish; hers German. "I gradually acquired skill in office business, and more and more of it fell to my share, till at length I could give all of it competent attention. In this way and by observing what was done and said in the courts, I contracted a relish for law, and became familiar with legal documents and forms of procedure. The statutes, strange to say, were pleasant reading, and at intervals I read them with assiduity. Of course, my comprehension of them was imperfect, and still more imperfect was my mastery of the Constitution of the United States. But I had a boy's acquaintance with all these, or with most of them, by the time I was seventeen. "Having prepared myself crudely for admission, I was admitted to the Bar in April, 1846, shortly before I was nineteen. Though, for the following two years, I had a monopoly of the minor practice and a frac tion of that which was of some importance, the litigation of one sparsely settled mountain county which fell to my share was too inconsiderable to break the continuity of my studies, or -rather my legal meditations. I was absorbed. I had visions. I saw sovereignty. I beheld the law in its majesty and beauty. I personified it as a queen or an empress. It was my sovereign mistress, my phantom lady Oh, lady, lady, lady, Since I see you everywhere, I know you are a phantom A woman of the air! I know you are ideal But yet you seem to me As manifestly real As anything can be. Oh, soul-enchanting shadow, In the day and in the night, As I gaze upon your beauty, I tremble with delight. If men would hear me whisper How beautiful you seem, They would slumber while they listen, And dream it in a dream; For nothing so exquisite Can the waking senses reach Too fair and soft and tender For the nicest arts of speech. In a pensive, dreamy silence, I am very often found, As if listening to a rainbow Or looking at a sound. 'Tis then I see your beauty Reflected through my tears, And I feel that I have loved you A thousand thousand years. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1403 "My professional income for these two years, not counting insolvent fees, amounted to between thirty-five and fifty dollars per annum. Hav ing no means with which to establish myself elsewhere, I determined to suspend practice and engage in a more lucrative department of labor until I could accumulate a small capital. I sought and obtained employ ment as bookkeeper in the State Railroad office in Atlanta. In this situa tion I remained for three years, my compensation ranging from forty dollars to sixty-six dollars per month. In the fourth year I was trans ferred to Milledgeville, then the capital of the State, being appointed one of the Governor's secretaries, at a salary of twelve hundred dollars. A new incumbent of the executive chair was inaugurated in November, 1851, and both my health and my politics needing repairs, I returned to private life. I had saved enough from my earnings to supply me with the skeleton of a library and to support me for some months as a candi date for practice. '' In March, 1852, being then nearly twenty-five years of age, I opened an office in Atlanta, and my thoughts and dreams were again of law and of nothing else. The phantom lady haunted me again as before and seemed as beautiful as ever. Indeed, though I had been cool, I had been constant in my devotions to her through the four years I was out of her service. Clients gradually ventured within my chambers, and I soon had a moderate prosperity, due chiefly to acquaintance made in railroad cir cles during my three years' service as a railway clerk. In 1853 I was elected to the office of solicitor-general for my judicial circuit, which embraced eight counties. My term of service was four years, in the last of which happened the crowning success of my whole life, I was married. "Until 1861 I continued the practice in Atlanta. The first battle of Manassas, alias Bull Run, occurred while I was in a camp of instruction, endeavoring to acquire some skill in the noble art of homicide. By nature I am pacific. The military spirit has but a feeble development in my constitution. Nevertheless, I tried the fortunes of a private soldier for a short time in behalf of the Southern Confederacy. I was discharged on .account of ill health, after a few months' service in Western Vir ginia, without having shed any one's blood or lost any blood of my own. The state of my martial emotions was somewhat peculiar: I loved my friends, but did not hate my enemies. "Without getting 'fighting mad,' I went out to commit my share of slaughter, being actuated by a solemn sense of duty, unmixed with spite or ill will. When I consider how destructive I might have been had my health supported my prowess, I am disposed to congratulate 'gentlemen on the other side' upon my forced retirement from the ranks at an early period of the contest. To the best of my remembrance, I was very reluctant but very determined to fight. However, all my military acts were utterly null and void. After my discharge from the army, I served the Confederacy in much of its legal business at and around Atlanta. Occasionally I took part also in short terms of camp duty as a member of the militia. In 1864, about the time Gen. Sherman left Atlanta on his march to the sea, I was ap pointed to the office of Supreme Court Reporter. After reporting two volumes, the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth Georgia, I resigned that office. From that time until I was appointed to the Supreme Bench in 1875 I practiced law continuously in Atlanta. 1404 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS "Such education as I received in my boyhood was,,acquired at the village academy of my native county, an institution of meager resources and limited range of instruction. Although in the course of a somewhat studious lifetime, I have added considerably to my early stock, the plain truth is that, while not illiterate, I am destitute of real learning, lay or legal. My highest aspiration, so far as this life is concerned, is to do good judicial work. Service is better than salary, duty more inspiring than reward. My devotion to law is the spiritual consecration of a loving disciple, a devout minister.'' Few men will agree with Judge Bleckley that he was destitute of real learning, lay or legal. lie was a profound student of the law, and for years to come the impress of his genius will be felt upon the juris prudence of this state. One of the great counties of Georgia bears his name, and he deservedly ranks among the crowned immortals. In keep ing with his modest estimate of himself as a jurist is the apologetic meek ness with which he refers to what he calls his "metrical transgressions;" but the fact remains that Judge Bleckley has produced some excellent verse. He has not only made Blackstone clutch the fiddle and dance the Virginia reel, but he has made the waters of song gush from the Horeb of law and chant the music of Miriam. JUDGE BLJSCKLEY's ALPHABET Chief Justice Logan E. Bleckley's analysis of the English alphabet is one of the curiosities of literature. It exhibits a knowledge of philol ogy which is remarkable in one whose life was largely devoted to the technicalities and principles of civil law. According to Judge Bleckley's process of simplification the number of alphabetic letters is reduced to five; and these, by the aid of consonant signs, are carried through twen ty-one variations. The first letter is 0. It has no variation. The second is I. It has one variation, which is Y. The third is U. It has two varia tions, Q. and W. The fourth is A. It has four variations, H, J, K, R. The fifth is E. It has fourteen variations, in eight of which the E sound is full and strong, and in six quite thin and weak. The eight are B, C, D, G, P, T, V and Z; the six are F, L, M, N, S, and X. Summing up, we have one 0, two I's, three TJ's, five A's, and fifteen E's. Of the whole number 0 is 1-26, I 1-13, U 1-9 plus, A a fraction less than 1-5, E 1-2 and two over. Properly arranged the twenty-six characters would stand thus: 0, I, Y, U, Q, W, A, H, J, K, R, E, B, C, D, G, P, T, V, Z, F, L, M, N, S, X. This places the solitary 0 first; and in regular suc cession the others follow in the order of progression, each letter being accompanied by the progeny of which it is said to be the parent. One of the amusing episodes in the life of Judge Bleckley was his college course at Athens. He was in the close neighborhood of seventy when puzzled by some abstruse problem in higher mathematics he decided to attend the State University; and accordingly he spent one day in the sophomore class, one day in the junior class, and one day in the senior class. He considered himself ever afterwards an alumnus of the institution; and his alma mater in turn is proud of the phenomenal record of the old jurist. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1405 REPARTEE OF COL. HIRAM P. BELL It seldom falls to the lot of one man to serve in the legislative bodies of two distinct republics; but Col. Hiram P. Bell, of Georgia, represented this state in both Federal and Confederate congresses, besides which he commanded a regiment on the field of battle. When quite an old man he took his seat in the Legislature of Georgia, and, like Doctor Felton, distinguished himself in this foram, after wearing congressional honors. Colonel Bell was discussing some measure before,the general judiciary committee of the House, when a member interrupted him by flippantly remarking that he was making a mountain out of a molehill. This nettled the old gentleman, but quick as a flash he turned toward the member in question and gave him an answer, the effect of which was most dramatic. "Aye," said he, "call it insignificant, if you like, but Carlyle has told us that it is only man's littleness that makes him blind to the greatness of trifles. Multiply atoms by atoms, and you get the frame-work of this ponderous universe. Two thousand years ago, the Nazarene touched the spots of a leper of Capernaum. It was an insig nificant thing. It was only an unclean leper who was "healed. But the finger-touch of that insignificant act has thrilled and electrified the Chris tian centuries." REPARTEE ov DOCTOR MILLER Dr. H. V. M. Miller, one of the most eloquent public men of his day in. Georgia, styled "the Demosthenes of the Mountains," was quick at repartee and possessed the readiness while on his feet to make happy use of, unexpected interruptions. He had just risen from his seat on the platform to deliver an address at the University of Georgia when the tumultuous outburst of enthusiasm caused some of the plastering to drop from the loose ceiling overhead. This diverted the attention of the audience for a moment, but Doctor Miller was not embarrassed. His mind acted with the rapidity of lightning and instantly gave forth this brilliant flash: "Ladies and gentlemen," said he, "I expected to bring down the house before I finished, but not before I commenced.'' Doctor Miller was variously gifted. He was a distinguished medical practitioner as well as a powerful debater on the 'political hustings. Toward the close of reconstruction, he was elected to represent Georgia in the United States Senate, but on account of certain complications was not seated until the last hours of the session. He was, therefore, denied the opportunity of launching any of his thunderbolts in the upper house of Congress. On returning to Georgia, he devoted himself almost entirely to professional pursuits. Doctor Miller possessed one of the most retentive memories and one of the most richly stored intellects known to the public life of this state, and there was scarcely any theme in the discussion of which he was not at home. DOCTOR FELTON's TILT WITH MR. SIMMONS Conspicuously brilliant as were the services of Dr. William H. Felton in the halls of Congress, it is doubtful if he ever achieved such oratorical 1406 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS triumphs or received sucli splendid ovations as marked his career in the Legislature of Georgia. It was not until after withdrawing from the arena of national politics that Doctor Felton took his seat in the Legis lature as a member from Bartow. He was then a white-haired old man, who leaned heavily upon his stick; and such, indeed, was his nervous condition a sort of palsy that his whole body quivered like an aspen, even when moved by no unusual excitement. To the casual or ignorant observer, who knew nothing of Georgia polities, it might have seemed that he was there, like the pictures on the wall, for the purpose of casting upon his associates the austere but speechless spell of a former genera tion. But Doctor Felton was not in the Legislature to enhance the scenic effects. He was there for more eloquent reasons. When interest was aroused or thought alert there was a light in this old man's eyes which told that the volcano was not yet .extinct and that while it might lift the snows of Mount Blanc it concealed the flames of Vesuvius. Those who witnessed the famous fire of Doctor Felton's batteries, in 1884, when Representative E. G. Simmons, of Sumter was the victim of his volley, will never forget the terrific bombardment. It is needless to recall the minute'particulars, but it seems that Mr. Simmons an experi enced legislator had mortally offended Doctor Felton by calling him the great political "She" of Georgia. This was the name given by Rider Haggard, the celebrated novelist, to one of the weird creations of his brain, but Doctor Felton misconstrued the purport of the speaker's lan guage or at least put upon it such an interpretation as involved a sinister reference to Mrs. Felton, his gifted helpmeet and companion. The debate was on Doctor Felton's reformatory bill, and in the course of a somewhat impassioned speech the old doctor had declared that if his constituents should return him to the Legislature for the next thousand years, he would continue year after year to advocate his bill, until victory at last perched upon his banners. Those who have read "She" will see at once in this statement a suggestion of Rider Haggard's novel, but Mr. Sim mons may have used this name with a double intention. At any rate, it angered Doctor Felton, and when he finally obtained the floor his face was overspread with a deep pallor, while his frame trembled with the intensity of his suppressed emotion. All eyes were bent upon him. His nervous infirmity only tended to augment his powers of eloquence by electrifying every fiber in his body, and as he turned his batteries toward the corner where Mr. Simmons sat, a spectacle for the painter, it was to administer to him such a rebuke as no Legislature in Georgia ever before witnessed. The long arms rose in the air as if to clutch the mallet of Hercules, while the fierce eyes darted fire like burning coals from the forge of Vulcan. The established custom of debate was forgotten and the gentleman from Sumter became in the red-hot rhetoric of Doctor Felton "the man from Sumter." For a moment there crept into the old doctor's face a smile of tenderness, as he spoke of his idolized partner as one of Georgia's most intellectual women, and praised her nobility of soul as well as her beauty of mind; but instantly this gentle mood was succeeded by an outburst of equinoc tial thunder, as turning to Mr. Simmons he said : "And, sir, if she could have put an ounce of her great brain into your empty skull, this house GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1407 would have been spared a spectacle, the like of which, for Georgia's sake, I hope it will never witness again.'' Doctor Felton next likened him to the small canine who bore his tail in such an upright manner as to expose his hinder parts. Then seizing upon one of the statements of Mr. Simmons to the effect that he (Mr. Simmons) had received the colored vote as well as the white vote of Sumter County in the legislative election, Doctor Felton next proceeded to enlarge upon the affinity existing between the colored voter and the '' man from Sumter,'' and compared them to two drops of water hanging upon a telegraph wire in a rain storm, and gradually approaching each other until they came together and made one big drop. Then he went on to say that when he prayed to God hereafter, instead of beseeching him in an abstract manner to make his only boy what a father's heart longed for him to be, he would now ask God in more specific terms to make him just the opposite in every respect of "the man from Sumter." Finally he reached the climax of his scathing philippic by pointing his slim finger at Mr. Simmons and pronouncing upon him, in a slightly modified form, the famous anathema of Lord Macauley: '' Sir, the one small service which you can render Georgia is to hate her, and such as you are may all who hate her be." It was evident from this speech that age had not impaired the powers of mind which had made Doctor Felton in former years such a dramatic figure upon the hustings in Georgia. He was several times reelected to the State Legislature, and was instrumental in shaping much of the legis lation of this period, embracing the last two decades of the nineteenth century. He was the father of the reform movement which a few years later, resulted in the abolition of the infamous convict lease system. It was also due to Doctor Felton that the Western & Atlantic Railroad was leased upon the present advantageous terms. Pie introduced and urged the measure which fixed the rental. The last appearance of Doctor Felton in public was in 1898 when, bowed under the weight of nearly eighty years, he appeared before the General Assembly of Georgia and made a plea of surpassing eloquence on behalf of the State University at Athens. Mrs. Felton, his widow, is admittedly one of the most gifted women of this state and is fully the peer intellectually and socially of the famous Madame Octavia Walton LeVert. GOVERNOR MCDANIEL'S HAPPIEST SPEECH Gov. Henry D. McDaniel was occupying the executive chair at the time of President Cleveland's first election, in the fall of 1884; and soon after the dramatic invasion of the State Legislature by Henry Grady, who performed the audacious feat of adjourning this law-making body, in the name of democracy's triumphant standard-bearer, it was decided to call upon Governor McDaniel with the good news. In the party with Mr. Grady were Capt. Evan P. Howell and Mr. Donald M. Bain, both of whom were high priests in the democratic Sanhedrim. To signalize the announcement, they bore an immense flag, and, rushing toward the stairway, mounted the flight six steps at a time. Governor McDaniel was deeply engrossed in official correspondence when Mr. Grady and Mr. Bain seized him, and before he could fully comprehend the nature 1408 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS of the interruption, He found himself ensconced in the folds of the StarSpangled Banner. "What does this mean?" he inquired. "Is Cleveland really elected?" Like the average southern democrat, he was disposed to be skeptical of the returns from the presidential election. Since the time of Buchanan there had been no democratic incumbent of the White House, and though Tilden had been fairly elected, he had not been allowed to take the oath of office. However, the nature of the present interruption, the jubilant expression upon the faces of the visitors and the national ensign, all bore testimony to the purport of the message; but the news was too good to be true. Without answering the governor's question in direct words, Mr. Grady, with suppressed excitement, merely said: '' You must come down stairs.'' "But what do you wish me to do?" hesitated the governor. "We will show you what to do," replied the bold spokesman. Though, it looked very much as if the governor was being kidnaped by Robin Hood's men, he consented to the program of the captors. They bore him down the stairway, through an eager throng of exultant demo crats, including statehouse officials, legislators and citizens, and planted him finally on the steps of the postoffice building on the opposite side of the street. He was then told to address the crowd. Unexpected as the demand was upon the resources of the governor, he waxed eloquent. Cheer after cheer went up from the throats of the assembled multitude as the resonant sentences of the governor fell upon the receptive air; and, in the opinion of many warm admirers who were present, Governor McDaniel fairly surpassed himself in the electrical ten-minutes speech which he made on this occasion.* GOVERNOR CANDLER'S FIGHT FOB A BLANKET Back in the early '60s, when Governor Candler was a captain in the Confederate army, he was camping on one occasion with his command, near a company of Mississippians, on Pearl River. After an exposure of twenty-four hours on picket duty, during an incessant downpour of rain, the Georgia boys returned to camp on the morning of the second day, drenched and exhausted, and proceeded to spread their wet blankets on the honeysuckle bushes to dry. Nothing of interest occurred for sev eral hours to ruffle the monotonous routine of camp life, but late in the evening an ungainly Mississippian, who wore an aggrieved look, approached the commanding officer's tent. '' Captain,'' said he, in tones of ill-suppressed anger, '' one of your men has stolen my blanket and refuses to give it up." Just at this moment the alleged culprit, who proved to be an old grayhaired Presbyterian elder, appeared with the blanket in 'question.. "Captain," he protested, "this man is mistaken. Here is the blan ket. We captured it from the Yankees last fall. You will recognize it at once because you have slept under it yourself time and again." Thereupon the Georgia officer carefully scrutinized the disputed arti- * Vol. II, '' Beminisceiiees of Famous Georgians," by L. L. Knight. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1409 cle of property and finding from the peculiar marks which it bore that it unmistakably belonged to the old elder, he turned to the Mississippi youngster and said: "My friend, he is right. This is his blanket. You have made some mistake." "Yes," retorted he, unable to contain himself longer, "that's just the way with you Georgians. One of you will lie about something and another will swear it is true. If you will shed your stripes I will lick you before you can say jack-rabbit." Thus challenged, the little captain, who was game to the core, pro ceeded to shed his stripes and to square himself for action. On came the burly young Mississippian, and for several minutes the most des perate grapple ensued. Governor Candler afterwards said it was un doubtedly the hardest fight for the same length of time in which he was ever engaged. Neither belligerent knew the other's name, but years afterward when Governor Candler was representing the Ninth District in Congress he told the story to Edward Barrettr who was then the Washington corre spondent for the Atlanta Constitution, and the brilliant newspaper man of course slapped it into print. Reading the graphic account among others was Private John Alien, of Mississippi, whose curiosity was at once piqued. The noted humorist of Congress lost no time in seeking the "Washington correspondent. "Who gave you the story?" inquired Private John. "Why, Congressman Candler, of Georgia," replied Mr. Barrett. "Was he the blamed little captain?" asked Private John. "Yes," returned the correspondent, wondering what was coming next. '' Well,'' said Mr. Alien, giving vent to the most violent outburst of laughter, "I was the other fellow." Before the day was over the belligerents were again brought together, but, instead of renewing the fight, they laughed and talked over the old wartimes; but the incident which seemed to tickle them both most was the one of the two Confederate soldiers who, wholly unacquainted with each other, fought the pitched battle for the old army blanket on Pearl River.* GOVERNOR NORTHEN AT MOUNT ZION ACADEMY Before entering the political arena, Gov. William J. Northen was for twenty years a sclioolteacher. Incidentally, it may be said that a better one was never evolved. Succeeding Dr. Carlisle P. Beman at the head of the famous Mount Zion Academy, near Sparta, he taught more than one youngster who was destined to come to the front in Georgia politics. But, like a certain wise king of Israel, Governor Northen believed in a wholesome, application of the rod. On one occasion so the story goes some nineteen students, becoming rebellious, were given the choice be tween two extremes expulsion or castigation. The stern professor was determined to permit no infraction of the 'Vol. II, "Reminiscences of Famous Georgians," by L. L. Knight. 1410 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS rules of discipline. He clearly defined the issue, and having once delib erately spoken he was less amenable to change than was the law of the Medes and Persians. Ten chose to return to school duties by way of the birch, but nine still demurred and accordingly suffered the conse quences. It was not the purpose of Governor Northeii to punish the .boys who voluntarily accepted the terms of readmission, but this inten tion the professor kept to himself until the decision was finally rendered. Later on four or five of the others applied for readmission, doubtless hoping to be equally as fortunate in escaping the terrors of the lash. But they applied too late to be treated as volunteers; and, though they were taken back, they were first required to strip. Another remedial dose of the same prescription was destined to bear unexpected results years afterwards. In the hot resentment born of bruised flesh and injured feelings, one of the boys threatened to pun ish the professor on reaching the adult stage. "Wait till I am grown," said he, "and I will get even for this day's work." Though the pro fessor attached no importance to the threat, it was too much out of the usual run of predictions to be lightly forgotten; and, when he was run ning for governor the first time, an incident occurred which served to revive it. He was stopping at some hotel, and, exhausted by the fatigue of the campaign, he wished to rest. But up came a card. Glancing at the piece of pasteboard, he recognized the name of the student whose solemn vow was still unexecuted. He hardly knew what to expect. It might be imperiling the gubernatorial honors, but he agreed to see the visitor. In rushed the man, breathless with excitement. "Professor," said he, "I've ridden fifteen miles to tell you that I am doing all I can to see you elected governor, and that I am going to get you as many votes as you gave me licks at old Mount Zion." Except for the exigency of ill health. Governor Northen might have been satisfied to spend the remainder of his days in listening to the buzz of Greek verbs. It was useful work in which he was engaged; and such work is only too often undervalued. But Georgia was calling him, through the agency of mysterious events, into higher spheres of useful ness. Behind the plow, in the ruddy and robust activities of country life, his health began to improve. He was sent first to the House and then to the Senate. Subsequently he became president of the State Agri cultural Society. This was the stepping-stone to the governorship. Twice he filled the gubernatorial chair, being elected each time by rous ing majorities. He was the steadfast friend of the educational interests of Georgia, and enjoyed the satisfaction while governor of seeing two institutions in which he was peculiarly interested successfully launched the Georgia Normal and Industrial College at Milledgeville and the State Normal School at Athens.* POLITICS IN GOVERNOR TERRELL'S HEAD To say that Gov. Joseph M. Terrell was one of the most popular of all the chief executives of Georgia is to say much, but still not all, for, in the felicitous phrase of Dr. John E. White, his career in public life *ol. II, "Reminiscences of.Famous Georgians," by L. L. Knight. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1411 has been styled "the Gulf-Stream of Georgia politics," Despite the horrified outburst of old Aurtt Liza, a privileged darky once owned by the Terrell family in Meriwether, political honors did not spoil Governor Terrell. Someone told her that Joe had gotten politics in his head, but that otherwise he was all right. "Well," said Aunt Liza, "ef he's got 'em he's got 'em sense he growed up. He didn't have any of dem things in his head when I kept it combed.'' While occupying the office of attorney-general, Governor Terrell appeared twelve separate times for Georgia in the United States Supreme Court, and won every case which he argued. DR. CUBBY AND KING ALPIIONSO Dr. J. L. M. Curry, a native Georgian, who represented the United States Government at the. court of Madrid, under President Cleveland, received many marks of signal favor from the Spanish dons, with whom he was the most popular of all the diplomats. It was the fortune of Doctor'Curry to be in Madrid at the time of the present sovereign's birth; and when the young sovereign was presented to the grandees of Spain as the new king who, by virtue of his father's death some months before, was born a sovereign, the United States minister was accorded the honor of meeting the royal infant within an hour of his advent. Unadorned by even the simplest vestments of the royal wardrobe, the little stranger, who possessed no badge or mark to distinguish him from the child of the humblest peasant in Spain, was borne upon a platter of gold into the hall of the palace to receive the homage of his kneeling subjects and the felicitations of his friends and neighbors. The pleasant relations existing between the American ambassador and the Spanish court were such that years later when the crown was formally placed upon the brow of the youthful sovereign, the United States Government was specially requested to commission Doctor Curry to attend the impressive ceremonies. Though he received many distin guished compliments both at home and abroad, he never felt quite so highly flattered by any incidental tribute as by this distinguished mark of regard from the royal family at Madrid. Doctor Curry was born in Lincoln County, Georgia, in 1825. He belonged to the famous Lamar family of this state, being a grandson of Basil Lamar and a cousin of L. Q. C. Lamar. He was a minister of the gospel, served in Confederate and Federal Congress, was commissioned a colonel in the southern army, and was the trustee of the Slater-Peabody fund. Alabama has placed Doctor Curry's statue in the nation's Hall of Fame in Washington, D. C. "SENATORS NOT GENTLEMEN":. PRESIDENT AKIN's RULING During the legislative session of 1907, President John W. Akin made a ruling which is likely to live among the humorous traditions of the capitol. It was based upon the immemorial canons of senatorial eti quette, but it stated a fact which, except for its amusing side, was well calculated to shock the Cavalier instincts of Georgia's state senators. The ruling of the chair was called forth by the following circumstances: Sen. L. G. Hardman occupied the floor. His bill to provide for the registration of trained nurses was under fire. 1412 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS Sen. J. P. Knight and Senator Camp, who ran the opposition bat teries, proposed to amend the measure by providing that nothing in the act should be construed to prohibit the author of the bill, Doctor Hardman, from having two nurses, either trained or in process of train ing, to attend him whenever necessity required. In the cross-firing which ensued Senator Knight grew eloquently warm. Question after question was put to Doctor Hardman, to all of which he returned unruffled answers. But Senator Knight, instead of addressing him in the time-honored fashion of the upper legislative branch as "the senator from the thirty-second," yielded to the force of unconscious habit and in the language of the lower house addressed him as "the gentleman," an appellation which ordinarily conveys no offense. However, it was more than the strict presiding officer could stand; and he brought down the gavel with an ominous rap upon the desk. "It is an exceedingly disagreeable duty," said he, "to call any mem ber of this body to task, but when an open violation of the rules of the Senate is observed I have no option. For some time past I have noticed with some degree of surprise that senators appeared to forget them selves and to address senators in debate as gentlemen. The senator from the sixth is an old offender. Let me state once for all that there are no gentlemen in the Senate of Georgia; for when the commissioners of the people once enter this chamber they cease to be gentlemen and become senators.'' Though amusingly phrased, it was nevertheless an incontestable law of senatorial etiquette, being indeed the lex iion scripta, which is fully as old as the Roman eagles; and in the nature of things there was no appeal from the decision of the chair. Senator Knight, whose lineage connected him with the old order of chivalry, and whose name suggested crusades and tournaments, was rather nonplused to have his status defined in such naked terms, but he signified his acquiescence in the president's decision, and, gasping for ozone, he resumed his seat, hav ing no further questions to ask. FRANK STANTON'S IMPROMPTU Frank L. Stanton, the gifted Georgia poet, was introduced on one occasion by young Thomas R. R. Cobb to a Mr. Kemp, who was then living in Atlanta. Subsequently, when under the influence of the bev erage which is said to have inspired Tarn O'Shanter, he obtained from Mr. Kemp a small sum of money, in exchange for which, he gave the following poetic acknowledgment, which will compare favorably with any impromptu squib from the pen of Byron: "My dear Mr. Kemp, If I ever wear hemp Instead of these starched linen collars, I hope it will be When I'm perfectly free From your excellent loan of ten dollars." GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1413 WASHINGTON DESSAU'S DRAMATIC ADIEU Never, perhaps, in the history of the Georgia bar, has an advocate died more literally in harness than Washington Dessau. The death of this brilliant lawyer, while engaged in making an argument of singular power before the Supreme Court of Georgia, constitutes one of the most tragic and impressive episodes of the capitol. Mr. Dessau was an orator with few equals; but, unlike most men of rare gifts, he preferred the courtroom to the legislative hall, and was usually at his best when dis cussing some difficult point of law before the court of last resort. On this particular occasion he waxed unusually eloquent; and neither tlie thunder-peal of his voice nor the lightning-flash of his eye suggested that the vital forces were well-nigh spent. He was apparently never in better health, nor did he begin to look the fifty-two years which regis tered the mature vigor of his physical and intellectual powers. If anyone had been asked to pick out from the entire courtroom the victim for whom the invisible messenger was waiting at the door, he would not have selected the strong man who, with thews of iron corded in the grapple of weighty argument, resemblea Hercules slaying the Nemean Lion or Samson lifting the gates of Gaza. But the hour was about to strike. Suggesting certain legal difficulties, one of the mem bers of the court requested Mr. Dessau to argue the point which he indi cated from the bench. "Your honor," said he, "permit me to thank you. The friction of two minds causes the spark of truth to scintillate." This was the eloquent advocate's last sentence. With the accents of courtesy upon his lips he fell to the floor like an old knight of the tour nament. He was borne to an adjoining room where every effort was made to strengthen the weak pulse and to recall the departed color. But in vain. The solemn awe which fell upon the spectators of the tragic scene was most profound. Seldom have men.been more deeply affected. The brilliant aphorism which was destined-to linger to the latest times in the traditions of the coiirtroom seemed to reverberate through the silent chamber of death like the intonations of thunder and to cause the dullest imagination to realize how appropriate it was, since the time had come for him to soar from the sight of man, that his own lofty eloquence should supply the rocket wings. Mr. Dessau's death occurred in 1904. He was survived by his wife, who was a grandniece of old Governor Gilmer. CHANCELLOR MELL: EXAMPLES OP His WIT Chancellor Patrick H. Mell, of the State University, was perhaps the foremost parliamentarian of his day and generation in the South. He was moderator of the Georgia Baptist Association for over thirty years, president of the Georgia Baptist Convention for twenty-six years, and president of the Southern Baptist Convention for seventeen years. "MelPs Manual" is still an authoritative handbook for the guidance of deliberative bodies. But Doctor Mell was also a wit a gift, however, which he rarely, if ever, displayed in the pulpit. Shortly after the \var, the Southern Baptist Convention met in Bal- Vol. Ill--10 1414 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS timore. Chancellor Mell, as usual, wielded the gavel, and the following incident, which occurred during the session, shows that, without losing his parliamentary equipoise or his kindly good humor, there were certain words in Webster's Dictionary which he could not think of permitting on the floor, in connection with the late unpleasantness. As a fraternal delegate from the Northern Baptist Convention, the distinguished Doctor Welsh of New York was given the floor and was voicing the friendly sen timents of his brethren north of the Patapsco. To show that his purpose was not to indulge in censure, he said: "Why, Brother President, if I had been in the South such are the impulses of my heart that I should no doubt have been one of the leaders of the rebellion." At the utterance of the last word the gavel came down with an omi nous rap upon the desk, and the speaker found himself suddenly under arrest. "That word is out of order on the floor of this convention," inter posed Doctor Mell, in his firmest but most courteous tones. '' Well, Brother President,'' meekly interrogated Doctor "Welsh, some what abashed, "what word shall I use?" "The chair does not presume to dictate, sir," replied the presiding officer, "but he insists upon his ruling that the word 'rebellion' in such a convention is out of order. He shall so hold unless you appeal from the decision of the chair. Do you appeal, sir?" "No, Brother President," returned the speaker with apologetic brev ity and prompt acceptance. What further descriptive nouns the venerable doctor employed is not disclosed by the newspaper clipping, but he does not appear to have been interrupted by the fall of the gavel any more during the proceedings. Doctor Mell had served as a colonel at the head of a regiment during the war, and he had used carnal as well as spiritual weapons in dealing with the adversary; and while he felt kindly toward the brother who had spoken with such generous promptings, he wanted him to know that he had fought for principle. Another amusing incident in the experience of Doctor Mell while occupying the chair is told by his son, Prof. P. H. Mell, who has written an excellent biographical account ofrhis father. During a session of the Georgia Baptist Convention a member who represented some benevolent enterprise was trying to raise money from the brethren. In the course of his remarks he was very bitter in denouncing ministers who wasted money in sinful appetites, particularly in the matter of using tobacco. His speech was having the opposite effect from what he desired, and Doctor Mell, anxious to aid the cause under consideration, watched for an opportunity to put the convention in good humor. The speaker con tinued in an injured tone to summarize the amounts spent by preachers in "sinfully bad habits," and turning toward the presiding .officer, he said: "A pipeful of tobacco costs five cents, doesn't it, Brother Moder ator?" "Yes," replied the doctor, "but it's worth it." The convention was uproarious for a while, bi\t the laughter resulted GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1415 in the restoration of good feeling and put an end to the speaker's offensive line of remarks. It was really of great service to him, however, because the body subscribed liberally to the cause he was advocating. The pre siding officer said afterwards that he would have given more than the tobacco was worth if he could have been smoking while the member was speaking. The remark of Doctor Mell suggests the witticism of Dr. W. W. Landrum, who justified the enjoyment of an occasional cigar 011 the strictly orthodox ground that he was only burning an idol. But leaving the convention halls, Professor Mell narrates an anecdote which humorously illustrates the logical bent of the great parliamen tarian's mind. The doctor was present once at a justice court; and, while waiting for the appearance of the justice, he withdrew to the shade of a tree, not far from which a group of men were drinking from a jug of whisky. They asked him to drink with them, but he politely declined. Just at this moment another man stepped up, and being given the same invitation, he eagerly grasped the proffered jug, saying as he did so: "Certainly I will, and I've got Scripture for it, too. Don't the Bible say 'be temperate in all things,' and whisky being something, how can I be temperate in all things without drinking some ?'' As he delivered himself of this weighty syllogism he glanced a chal lenge at Doctor Mell and gave a wink to the boys. Doctor Mell, goodnaturedly, accepted the gage of battle. ' "Gentlemen, I have two objections to that doctrine," said Doctor Mell. "In the first place there is no such passage in the Bible. And suppose the apostle had said, 'Be ye temperate in all things,' arc you going to construe it in the way just given! If you do you will have to bite a piece out of the jug as well as drink some of the whisky, for jugbiting is just as much something as whisky-drinking. And then see what a chapter of accidents you will have. You will be compelled, under the logic .you have just heard, to go through life biting a piece out of every hedge you come to, drinking out of every mud-puddle you see, nibbling at every tree you pass; and finally, my dear sir, you will have to bite a piece out of every dog's tail you meet on the road." For many years, in connection with his educational work, Doctor Mell preached at Antioch, and in going and coming he used to travel with a preacher of the Methodist camp, who held forth in the same neighbor hood. Now, this traveling companion was a widower and Doctor Mell was an inveterate jester.. Driving through the country one Saturday afternoon Doctor Mell suggested that his Methodist brother preach from the text, "This widow troubleth me." On meeting again the next week in Athens, the Methodist divine was asked if he had 'preached from the text which Doctor Mell had furnished. "Oh, no," said he, "I took the text, 'How long halt ye between two opinions.' " "Ah," replied Doctor Mell, smiling, "I did not know there were two of them." Sometimes Doctor Mell preached to the negroes. He was greatly beloved by the colored contingent, to whom his sympathetic and friendly offices were most pleasing. On one occasion, so the story goes, the great 1416 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS chancellor dropped into one of the colored churches near Athens merely to worship, and the old negro preacher who had caught sight of the slender figure of Doctor Mell as he entered the door soon afterwards lifted his stentorian voice in the most fervent prayer, which was largely dedicated to the spiritual comfort of the distinguished worshiper. Said he: '"God bless Mars Pat. Give him de eyes uv de eagle so he kin see sin a-fur off. Give him de claws uv de eagle so he kin tare sin to pieces. Keep him, oh Lawd, in-de holler of dy fist. Strenken his weak arm uv flesh wid de widder's mite, and an'int him wid de ile uv Patmos." BILL AEP'S RUSTIC HUMOR During the days of reconstruction, when the spirit of heaviness was upon the South, it was Maj. Charles H. Smith who, under the pen name of "Bill Arp," began to provoke the first good-natured laughter that rippled the state after General Lee's surrender. The appearance of this genial prophet of optimism was like a burst of sunshine, through a rift in the clouds. The plow was standing idle in the field. Military satraps were patroling the streets. The whole state was paralyzed with inertia. But in the midst of this condition of affairs Bill Arp's droll letters began to appear in the newspapers. They were spiced with such playful humor and seasoned with such shrewd philosophy and good sense, that at count less firesides throughout the South they began to arouse the most intense interest; and from this time on, in fact until the very hour of his death, Bill Arp was one of the most widely beloved of southern humorists. The story of how Major Smith began to write under the pen name of Bill Arp is perhaps best told in his own words. "Some time in the spring of 1861," says the mountain philosopher, "when our Southern boys were hunting for a fight and felt like they could whip all creation, Mr. Lincoln issued a proclamation ordering us all to disperse within thirty days, and to quit cavorting around. "I remember writing an answer to it as though I was a good Union man and a law-abiding citizen and was willing to disperse if I could, but it was almost impossible, for the boys were mighty hot, and the way we made up our military companies was to send a man down the lines with a bucket of water and if a fellow sizzed like a hot iron in a slack trough we took him, and if he didn 't sizz we didn 't take him; but nevertheless, notwithstanding, and so forth, if we could possibly disperse within thirty days we would do so, but I thought he had better give us more time, for I had been out in an old field by myself and tried to disperse and couldn 't. "I thought the letter was right smart and decently sarcastic, and so I read it to some of my friends and they seemed to think it was right smart, too. About that time I looked around and saw the original Bill Arp standing with his mouth wide open, eagerly listening. As he came for ward he said to me: '' ' Squire, are you going to print that ?' '"I reckon I will, Bill,' said I. " 'What name are you going to put to it?' said he. " 'I don't know yet,' said I; 'I haven't thought about a name.' GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1417 '' Then he brightened up and said: ' "Well, Squire, I wish you would use mine. Them's my sentiments'; and I promised him that I would. "Sol did not rob Bill Arp of his good name, but took it on request.'' Major Smith, in one of his letters, has drawn an excellent little thumb-sketch of the original Bill Arp, showing that while an unlettered man, who could neither read nor write, he was nevertheless possessed of an unusual share of mother wit and was always most welcome whenever he came about. Some few paragraphic glimpses at this old likeness may be of interest. Says Major Smith: '' He kept a ferry for a wealthy gentleman who lived a few miles above town on the Etowah river, and he cultivated a small portion of his land; but the ferry was not of much consequence, and when Bill could slip off to town and hear the lawyers talk he would turn over the boat and the poles to his wife or his children and go. I have known him to take a back seat in the court-house for a day at a time and with a face all greedy for entertainment, listen to the proceedings of the court and return home perfectly happy to tell his admiring family what had trans pired. "He felt the greatest reverence for Colonel Johnston, his landlord, and always said that he would about as leave belong to him as to be free; 'for,' said he, 'Mrs. Johnston throws away enough clothes and second hand vittles to support my children, and they are always nigh enough to pick 'em up.' "Bill Arp lived in Chulio district; we had eleven districts in the county, and they all had such names as Popskull and Blue-gizzard" and Wolf-skin and Shake-rag and Wild-cat and Possum-trot, but Bill Arp reigned in Chulio. Bill was the best man in the district. He could out run, out-jump, out-swim, out-wrestle, out-ride, out-shoot anybody; and was so far ahead that everybody else had to give up, and his neighbors were all his friends. '' But there was another district whose best man was Ben McGinnis; and it began to be whispered around that Ben wasn't satisfied with his limited territory and wanted to tackle Bill Arp. Ben weighed about one hundred and sixty-five pounds, while Bill weighed only one hundred and thirty. Bill was satisfied with his honors, but Ben was not; and soon it was noised around that Ben and Bill had to meet. "I've seen "Bill Arp in battle and he was a hero. I've seen him when shot and shell ranged around him and he was calm and cool; but I have never seen him so intensely excited as he was when Ben McGinnis approached and said: ' I golly, I dare anybody to hit me.' "As Ben bristled up Bill let fly M'ith his hard bony fist right in his left eye and followed it up with another so quick that the two blows seemed, as one. I don't know how it was and'never will know; but in less than a second Bill had him down and was on him and his fists and his elbows and his knees seemed all at work. Ben hollered 'enough' in due time and Bill helped him up and brushed the dirt off his clothes and said: '' ' Now, Ben, is it all over betwixt us ? Is you and me all right 1' " 'Yes,' said Ben, 'it's all right 'twixt you and me, Bill.' 1418 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS "Bill thereupon invited all hands up to the shelf and they took a drink and he and Ben were friends. '' This is enough of the original Bill Arp. He made a good soldier in war. He was the wit and the wag of the camp, making many a home sick youth laugh away his melancholy. He was a good citizen in peace. When told that his son was killed he looked no surprise, but simply said: " 'Major, did he die all right?' '' When assured that he did, Bill wiped away a tear and said: " ' I only wanted to tell his mother.' ' ' * How THE GEORGIA COLONELS ORIGINATED Quite an interesting contribution to state history is made by Major Smith in the story which he amusingly tells of how the Georgia colonels originated. "We used to have general musters all over the State," says he, "twice a year. The militia were ordered out to be reviewed by the commander-in-chief, who was the Governor. The Constitution required him to review 'em, but as he couldn't travel all around in person, he had to do it by proxy, and so he had his proxy in each county, and he was the Governor's aide-de-camp, with the rank of Colonel. This gave the Governor over a hundred aide-de-camps, and they all took it as a compliment and wore cockade hats with red plumes and epaulets, and long brass swords, and big brass spurs, and pistols in their holsters, and rode up and down the line in a gallop, reviewing the meelish. The mee-lish were in a double-crooked straight line, in a great big field, and were armed with shotguns and rifles, and muskets, and sticks, and corn stalks, and thrash-poles, and umbrellas, and they were standing up and setting down, or on the squat, or playing mumble-peg, and they hollered for water half their time, and whisky the other; and when the colonel and his -personal staff got through reviewing he halted about the middle of the line and said : ' Shoulder arms right face march,' and then the kettle-drums rattled and the fife squeaked, and some guns went off halfcocked, and the meelish shouted awhile and were disbanded by the cap tains of their several companies. "These colonels held rank and title as long as the Governor held his office, and they were expected to holler hurrah for the Governor on all proper occasions, and they did it. If the Governor ran again and was defeated, the next Governor appointed a new set from among the faith ful, and the old set had to retire from the field, but they held on to the title. For a great many years the old Whigs and Democrats had it up and down, in and out. and so new colonels were made by the score until the State was chock full again. "They had a general muster and a grand review once up at Lafay ette. Bob Barry lived up there and was the mischief-maker of the town. Bob never wore shoes or hat and hardly anything else in those days, and he had petted and tamed a great big long razor-backed hog, and could ride him with a rope bridle, and so as the colonel and his staff came galloping down the line with his cockades and plumes and glittering swords, Bob suddenly came out from behind a house mounted * Vol. I, '' Reminiscences of Famous Georgians, ; ' by L. L. Knight. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1419 on his razor-back hog, and a paper cap with a turkey feather in it 011 his head, and a pair of old tongs swinging from his suspenders, and some spurs on his bare-footed heels, and he fell in just behind the cavalcade, and got the hog on a run, and scared their horses, and the whole concern ran away and the hog after 'em, and such a yell and such an uproar was never heard in those parts or anywhere else. The hog never stopped running until he got home, when Bob dismounted and took to the woods for fear of consequences. Bob is running a Sundayschool now, and I 'm glad of it, for it will take a good deal of missionary work in him to make up for some things the Lafayette people tell about. '' But these militia musters got to be such farces that the Legislature abolished 'em about thirty-five years ago, though they couldn't abolish the colonels. When the war broke loose most of 'em 'went into the army and got reduced. Many a peace colonel got to be a war major or a cap tain, or even a high private, and in that way their ranks were thinned. Our governors, however, still make a few new ones as often as they are elected, and so the peace colonel is still destined to live and illustrate the good old State.'' Several years ago Major Smith attended the graduating exercises of the Atlanta Medical College to see his son receive his diploma. Con gressman N. J. Hammond, the president of the board of trustees, deliv- t ered the sheepskins to the young doctors in Latin; and this circumstance reminded Major Smith of an anecdote on old Judge Blandford, who had just resigned from the Supreme bench. Here is the story: "On one occasion a doctor sued a man for his medical bill of fifteen dollars and the man employed Mark Blandford, who had just hung out his shingle, to fight the case; for he said the doctor was no account and he discharged him. The doctor swore to his account and Mark called for his license or his diploma, and made the*point that no doctor had a right to practice without one, and he read the law to the squire. And . so the old judge told the doctor to show his sheepskin. He said he had one at home, and asked for leave to get it. It was just six miles to town and he rode in a hurry and returned in a sweat of perspiration. With an air of triumph he handed it over to Mark and said: ' Now what have you got to say?' Mark unrolled it and saw that it was in Latin. The doctor's name was John William Head, but the Latin made it Johannes Gulielmus, films, Caput. That was enough for Mark. He made the point that it was not a diploma but an old land-grant that was issued in old colony times to a man by the name of Caput. The doctor raved furi ously, but Mark stuck to it and there was no mention in the document of John William Head that it was issued to Johannes Gulielmus, filius, Caput an altogether different person, and he asked the doctor please to read the thing to the court. Of course the doctor couldn't do it and he lost his case. The old squire said that lie didii 't know whether it was a land-grant or a.diploma or a patent for some machine; and if the doc tor couldn't read it he wasn't fitteii to practice medicine." Major Smith died in Bartow County in this state in 1903 at the ripe old age of seventy-seven years. Elder in the Presbyterian Church, sol dier, lawyer, farmer, author, philosopher and humorist, he lived to cele brate the golden anniversary of his nuptials. The Death Angel over- 1420 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS took him in his harvest fields, still binding his mellow sheaves of grain. Sunshine died perceptibly from out the sky when the announcement went forth that genial Bill Arp was no more, and the great reading public for whom he had so often wrought the miracle of turning tears into smiles now paid him the sorrowful but affectionate tribute of turning smiles into tears. SAM JONES : GEORGIA 's PRINCE OP EVANGELISTS It is by no means an extravagant statement to say that when death, in the summer of 1906, suddenly checked the career of Samuel Porter Jones, it robbed the religious harvest-fields of the most unique evangelist of modern times. Mr. Jones may have lacked the eloquence of Whitfield. He was not an orator in the forensic sense of the term. But he pos sessed the humor of Mark Twain. He also understood what many other wise great preachers have failed to understand: human nature. Mr. Jones not only knew the text from which he preached but he knew the man to whom he preached. The creator of Little Nell knew no better how to touch the spring of human tenderness; and upon the keyboard of the heart he played like one of the great German masters. Tom Watson, in comparing the Georgia evangelist with Doctor Talmage, says that on the first night at any given place, the one might draw equally as well as the other, but that before the end of the week Doctor Talmage would be preaching to empty benches, while Mr. Jones would be turning hundreds away unable to give them accommodations. To continue the figurative analysis, Doctor Talmage was like a reser voir whose proportions are ample but which needs constantly to be refilled. On the other hand, Mr. Jones was like a stream of transparent crystal whose fountain source is hidden far up in the mountains, among the rocks and the ferns. He ran like Tennyson's Brook; and, if he sometimes meandered from the old beaten homiletical highway, it was in quest of greener fields and sweeter airs. It was in the great throbbing heart-centers of population, amid the roar and rush of city life, among the teeming millions of feverish toilers, that his life's work was chiefly done, but he seldom preached without catching into his sermons the clover breath of the Galilean fields. He kept in touch with the outer world. He loved to roam through the woods and to fish in the streams and to soar with the skylark, and, though he was not without some of the cre dentials of scholarship, he preferred Arcadia to Athens. Mr. Jones used to say that the most sincere compliment which he ever received from any source came from an old negro; and, though the terms in which it was conveyed were somewhat dubious, still the circum stances under which it was tendered excluded any sinister interpreta tion. Approaching the evangelist one day, after he had finished one of his simple and direct sermons to the brother in black, the old negro said: "Well, Brudder Jones, you sho' do preach like er nigger. You may have er white skin, but you got er black heart.'' Nature's outgushing tribute from an humble but honest source and freighted with an eloquence of warm sincerity which many of the hollow compliments expressed in terms far more classical sadly lack! Not black, indeed, but golden from core to circumference was the big manly heart GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1421 of Sam Jones. Viewed from the human standpoint it ceased to beat all too soon. But the Master of the vineyard knew when to call the laborer home; and, when Sam Jones passed under the shining arches into the radiant upper court of the temple, his arms were full of golden tro phies. The end came when he was hastening home to be present at the festive gathering which always took place in Cartersville on the anni versary of his marriage. But greater joy still was in store for the tired evangelist. He was going home to rest among anthems and friends and flowers yet not to Cartersville this time, but to Jerusalem the Golden, the city of the Great King.* UNCLE REMUS : THE STORY OF His RISE TO FAME Joel Chandler Harris persistently disclaimed any original creative merit for his famous folk-lore stories, which have grown into the nursery classics of the English-speaking world. But perfect reproduction requires almost if not quite as much genius as original creation; and while Mr. Harris may truthfully say that his work has been simply to retell the old plantation legends, preserving the flavor of humor in the molds of dialect, it is equally true that he has succeeded where many others have failed; and he could never have put southern literature under such lasting tribute to his pen unless he had caught the spirit of the old-time southern negro and possessed the power of kindling on the printed page the spark which vitalizes him and makes him live. This is what Mr. Harris has done for Uncle Remus; and when the merit of his work is stripped of all extraneous matter it still remains that he has carried the glow of the cabin fireside around the globe; that.he has touched and warmed and vivified all landscapes with the genial rays of the southern sun; and that even in the library of the. New England scholar he has made the southern cotton-patch as classic as the ancient arena. The story of how Uncle Remus' menagerie began to tour the world of literature can be very briefly told. In 1876 Mr. Harris refugeed to Atlanta with his family from Savannah to escape an epidemic which had broken out in the Forest City. He had no definite plans in view, but he had been writing editorials for one of the Savannah papers and he thought perhaps he could get similar work to do in Atlanta. He was not disappointed in this expectation; but he little dreamed that his hasty flight to Atlanta was destined to play such an important part in his subsequent fortunes and that even now he stood unconsciously in the pink aurora of his kindling fame. He became an editorial writer on the staff of the Constitution. Capt. Evan P. Howell was then managing editor of the paper; and going to Mr. Harris one day he said: "Harris, why can't you write some negro dialect stories like Sam Small's? You can write them between editorials. These stories are wonderfully popular here at home. Besides, they have been getting into the Northern papers. Try and turn in some thing to-night.'' * Vol. II, "Reminiscences of Famous Georgians," by L. L. Knight. 1422 GEORGIA AND' GEORGIANS This was an unexpected demand upon the resources of the young editorial writer and he turned to the task with some trepidation. Mr. Small, who had shifted his brilliant services to another paper, had been writing negro dialect stories at odd intervals under the pen-name of Uncle Si; and Mr. Harris, after leisurely thinking over the matter, decided to launch his venture under the pseudonym of Uncle Remus. Tapping his forehead for some time with the reverse end of his quill, he at length dislodged the initial story which he proceeded at once to put into the mouth of this droll new character. With modest misgiv ings he turned in his copy at the close of the day and nervously awaited the result. Next morning the first installment of the Uncle Remus stories appeared on the editorial page, fresh and crisp. Success was instant. Mr. Harris did not have to serve an appren ticeship. He caught the popular fancy from the very start. But he was now put to the task of raking his wits for all the plantation stories he had ever heard. He had created an appetite which he was obliged to appease. Luckily he had spent his boyhood days on one of the typi cal old southern plantations of Putnam County, and the very air he had breathed was pungent with the aroma of the old negro legends. These all came trooping back again under the inspiration of successful authorship. Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox began to entertain the public with the most amazing exploits and escapades. One by one other ani mals joined the adventurous aggregation, until the whole animal king dom was at last gathered under the spacious canvas; but each animal was made to furnish entertainment in his own characteristic way, with out sacrificing his native peculiarities or instincts. Old and young were delighted with the new order of chivalry which Uncle Remus had founded; and on billowy waves of laughter Mr. Harris began to ride the high seas of literature. These stories which he dashed off at random in the midst of his seri ous editorial work became his hostages to fortune: the inspirational frag ments which he exchanged for the laurel leaves of fame. At the expi ration of the first year Mr. Harris had spun enough yarn from the mouth of Uncle Remus to put into the folds of an octavo volume entitled "Uncle Rernus: His Songs and His Sayings;'' and this volume became the first spice-bearer of his opulent and splendid caravan." JOHN B. GORDON: THE HERO OF APPOMATOX Soon after the news of Georgia's action in withdrawing from the Union, on January 19, 1861, had reached the remote angle of the moun tains where Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama meet, there appeared upon the streets,of Atlanta a company of raw recruits all of them boys from the backwoods who had just emerged from this picturesque region, full of the new-born ardor of enlistment. However, the animating spirit of this rough mountaineer band was not the characteristic which was most patent to the eye. The ludicrous fact which struck the observer at the first glance was that no two members of the company were dressed in the same kind of regimentals. Moreover, they arose to very irregular heights; and, while it may have been partly the fault of the music, they * Vol. I, "Reminiscences of Famous Georgians," by L. L. Knight. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1423 seemed to have no idea of keeping- step. They had never been in camp for even so much as one day; but this fact was sufficiently well adver tised to dispense with statement. It is not trifling with the truth to say that if the areas of three con tinents, instead of the tips of three states, had been laid under tribute to produce an assortment of extremes the result could hardly have been more grotesque or nondescript. The variegated garment which an ancient Hebrew patriarch is said to have made for his favorite offspring, without the much-needed help no doubt of the lady of the household,was vividly suggested by the fantastic anarchy of colors which occupied the field of vision. But if the unseasoned troops which now appeared on the streets of Atlanta were like the mountains from which they had so recently emerged in being somewhat efflorescent and irregular, they deserve the full benefit of the metaphor; for, they were soon to show that, like the mountains, they were fashioned out of sturdy material and were built to breast the lightnings. The rough edges would dis appear eventually on the grindstone of the training camp, but the stay ing qualities would remain unaffected even by the sulphur of battle. Indeed, the mountaineers had already quietly resolved among them selves that if the mountains which they had just left ever saw them again in life they would at least bring back an autograph of Mars traced upon parchment which no critic dare question and which only death could erase. To prevent the inference from being drawn too hastily that the com pany possessed nothing in common to suggest the idea of uniformity, it may be said that each mountaineer was the owner of an odd-looking cooiiskin cap, provided with an appendage which ran down from behind like an oriental pigtail. But this uniform feature only tended to heighten the flavor of oddity produced by the amusing variations. Altogether it was decidedly the most mixed aggregation which the little metropolis of the foothills had ever witnessed. Unheralded by any announcement in the newspaper prints, it was only natural that curiosity should ask leading questions. "What company,is this?" inquired one of the bystanders, addressing the modest captain, who seemed to be as proud of the awkward moun taineers as the famous Roman general who wrote the Commentaries must have been of the Tenth Legion. But, strange to say, the question had not been anticipated. So eager were the mountain boys to get to the front that they had not stopped to think of such an unimportant detail. But the resourceful officer was always ready and, after the briefest pause, he answered: "The Mountain Rifles." Suggestive of stout timber and crack marksmanship as this name was, it was -not sufficiently descriptive to suit the taste of one burly member of the company at least; and he promptly demurred, with as little regard for military discipline as for chaste speech. "Mountain hell," said he. "We are no Mountain Rifles. We are the Raccoon Roughs." Overruled by the profane powers the young captain accepted the cor rection. Though dressed in the wardrobe of the lower world it was nevertheless inspirational; and all through the devious paths and varied 1424 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS experiences of the war it followed the rapidly thinning ranks of the mountain boys until the last bare remnant of the company stood in the surrender at Appomattox. But who is this sturdy young captain who seems, barely to have turned the corner of thirty? Look at him carefully, for he invites the most scrutinizing gaze. Those firmly-set features make it unnecessary to consult the oracles. That eye is full of the fire of battle. That beard which is not much older than the corn-silk on the uplands can not conceal the lines of rigid purpose which lie locked beneath. If the pre cise future can not be read to the extent of foreshadowing the lieutenantgeneral who is ultimately to command one-half of Lee's immortal legions, there is at least but one man in all the Confederate ranks who can pre cisely match those features; and his name is John B. Gordon.* ALFRED H. COLQTJITT : THE HERO OF OLUSTEE The story of how Gen. Alfred II. Colquitt, afterwards governor of Georgia and United States senator, plucked victory from the very jaws of defeat, during the Florida campaign of 1864, constitutes one most thrillingly dramatic chapters in the history of the Civil war. Briefly told, this story runs as follows: The supplies of ammunition having almost completely given out, orders were issued to cease firing for the present; and, since the enemy was directly in front, surrender seemed to be inevitable. But, while powder and shot were about exhausted, the resources of the commanding general were not; and the idea of capitu lating had never entered the rear of his head. He hastily dispatched orders for ammunition to the nearest base of supplies, and while waiting for the wagons to arrive, he parceled out what still remained to those in front, giving them instructions to make as much noise as possible. This clever ruse succeeded. No immediate advance was made by the enemy and sufficient time elapsed during the lull in the engagement to allow the wagons to arrive with fresh supplies. Hostilities were resumed only to i*esult in disaster to the Federal troops; and the tide of invasion into Florida was successfully repulsed. This decisive engagement, fought in the pine thickets, is known as the battle of Ocean Pond or Olustee. Among the officers of the northern army who participated in this engagement was Gen. Joseph R. Hawley, with whom General Colquitt afterwards served in the United States Senate. The two men became fast friends. Through General Colquitt's influence General Hawley, who was then governor of Connecticut, came to Georgia during the Cot ton Exposition of 1881, and addressed the people at the fair grounds; and General Colquitt being then governor of this state, entertained him at the executive mansion. It was singular how the lives of the two men had run in parallel lines; commanding officers of opposing armies during the Florida campaign, now governors of great commonwealths, and soon to occupy seats across the aisle from each other in the highest arena of the nation. Quite naturally the conversation during this visit turned upon the Florida campaign, and General Hawley took' occasion to ask why the * Vol. I, "Keminiscences of Famous Georgians,*' by L. L. Knight. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1425 Confederate forces had ceased firing during the battle, since this action had created the presumption that some change of front was contemplated. Smiling, Governor Colquitt then let the cat out of the bag and General Hawley was enabled to solve for the first time the riddle which had twisted his eyebrows so long. He almost felt like renewing hostilities, but he good-naturedly observed that if he had known as much in 1864 as . he knew then the god of battles might have rendered an altogether differ ent decision.* JUDGE WARNER 's NARROW ESCAPE Judge Warner was a man of uniqiie character. He was veritably a Roman cast in the molds of the great Cato. One of Georgia's purest sons, he was also one of her bravest a man to whom the instinct of moral fear was unknown. For the sake of principle he was ready to suffer the stake or the gibbet; but he was never inclined to turbulence. On the contrary, he was slow to anger, even-tempered and calm. The judicial poise of his great mind was seldom disturbed. The following incident of Wilson's raid, in 1865, is narrated by Governor Northen. It will serve to illustrate the character of the old jurist. Says Governor Northen : "In 1865, just after Johnston's surrender but before it was gen erally known Wilson's Federal raiders were abroad in Middle Georgia, bent on plunder. Vandalism is too weak a word to describe the petty meanness which marked the paths made by bands of Federal soldiers through certain portions of the South; and General Wilson was such an offender in this respect that succeeding generations have used his name to describe rapine and slaughter. Some of Wilson's raiders, visiting Meriwether County, headed for Judge AVarner's home. As they approached all the whites on the place fled except Judge Warner and his daughter, Mrs. Hill. The latter, with an infant two weeks old, could not be moved. Her father remained with her. During the morning some cavalry detach ments passing by stole what they could carry off. About noon another party arrived and stopping, fed their horses, stole the silverware and robbed the smokehouse. Judge Warner stood by in silence. But sud denly the leader, putting a pistol to his head, ordered him to accompany them. Between the house and the negro quarters was a small woodland. To this grove his captors conducted Warner, and there the leader of the band, wearing the uniform of a Federal captain, took out his watch and said: " I '11 give you just three minutes to tell where your gold is hid den." Warner protested that he had no gold. They replied that they had been told that he did have it and that he must give it up. He again denied it. They searched him and found five thousand dollars in Con federate money and fifteen thousand dollars in Central Railroad bills, which they appropriated. At the end of three minutes the captain gave a signal. One of the men took from his horse a long leather strap with a noose at one end. The other extemporized a gallows by bending down the end of a stout sapling. With an oath the officer made him select a larger and stouter tree. Judge Warner remained silent. One end of the strap was adjusted around his neck and the other fastened securely .to * Vol. I,""Reminiscences of Famous Georgians," by L. L. Knight. 1426 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS the tree. The sapling was gradually released until the line became taut, when it was turned loose and the Judge's body dangled in the air. On reviving, he found himself upon the ground, but with the noose still around his neck. The soldiers still surrounded him. Once more he was ordered to give up his gold under penalty of death. He replied as before. Again he was strung up and the sapling released. This was about two o 'clock in the day. When he recovered consciousness the sun was nearly down. He lay at the foot of the sapling. The noose had been removed from his neck. The dry leaves of the preceding autumn had been fired, and these were burning within a foot or two of his head. He always thought that the heat of the flames brought him back to consciousness and to life. The soldiers had left, him for dead and had set fire to the woods. He was barely able to make his way back to the house, where he lay ill for many days." * ZORA FAIR : A HEROINE OF THE CIVIL WAR Still fragrant in the memory of the Town of Oxford is the daring exploit of a beautiful South Carolina girl, who refugeed to this remote Georgia village during the Civil war. Her name was Zora Fair. She was living with an uncle, Mr. Abram Crews, in the famous old City of Charleston, when the latter was detailed by the Confederate Govern ment to run the blockade to Europe. Before embarking upon this peril ous enterprise, he sought to find a safe retreat for his family, and, having friends in the little Village of Oxford, he brought them hither, and with the other members of his household came Zora Fair. She was a frail slip of a girl, but she came of courageous stock, with wonderful powers of endurance, as events were to prove, and with a spirit as brave as ever animated the maid of Orleans. The story is too long to be told in this connection, but those who wish to read an account of this brave girl's heroism can find it in "Grandmother Stories," a charming little book written by Mrs. Howard Meriwether Lovett, of Augusta. It is enough for present purposes to say here that, disguising herself as a mulatto negress, she crossed the Yellow River, on a partially destroyed mill dam, and made her way on foot to Atlanta, where, passing the enemy's lines, she gained access to General Sherman's headquarters, possessed herself of certain secrets pertaining to the Federal plan of campaign; and, nar rowly escaping death under fire of a sentinel's gun, she returned with blistered feet to Oxford, from which place she sought to communicate by letter with Gen. Joseph E.. Johnston, then at Lincolnton, N. C. But, unfortunately, the brave girl's message fell into the hands of the Fed erals. Troops were sent to Oxford to effect her capture, but she remained in hiding until danger was well past. If the letter had reached General Johnston there might have been a different story for the historians to tell'. This daring exploit originated in the fertile brain of the young girl herself. She undertook its bold and hazardous execution without help; and though it failed of success, it proclaimed her a brave and fear less girl, possessed of the spirit of the true heroine; and her name deserves to be embalmed for all time to come in the grateful affections of her beloved Southland.* * Vol. II, "Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends," by L. L. Knight. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1427 How THE "GENERAL" WAS CAPTURED Perhaps the most accurate account which has yet appeared in print of the thrilling episode of the Civil war known as the Andrews' raid, has come from the pen of Mr. Wilber G. Kurtz, of Chicago. Before writing this article, Mr. Kurtz traversed every foot of ground upon which this stirring war drama was staged; he interviewed every survivor of the affair who could possibly be found; he inspected every valve, screw, joint and wheel belonging to the engines which participated in the famous episode; and when he finished his task there was nothing more to be said or written upon the subject. It adds a delicate flavor of romance to the story which the author has so charmingly told to state that Mr. Kurtz, who is a gentleman of northern birth, afterwards married a daughter of Capt. W. A. Fuller, one of the heroes of this episode. Mr. Kurtz occupies a high position in the social and business world of the Middle West. The story of the famous raid is as follows: In April, 1862, a division of Buell's army, in command of Gen. 0. M. Mitchel, was encamped near Shelbyville, Tenn. While here a Union spy and contraband merchant, James Andrews, was given permission by Mitchel to conduct a party of volunteers to some point on the W. & A. Railroad (the state road) in Georgia, seize a locomotive and run north ward, burning bridges and destroying track behind them. Some engineers were to be in this party to insure the handling of the locomotive, and, because of his frequent trips within Confederate lines, Andrews was familiar with all the details of the road. It was arranged that Mitchel's division should capture Huntsville, Ala., the same day (April 11) that Andrews destroyed the railroad; this being successful and Chattanooga thereby cut off from Atlanta and the South, Mitchel would then invest the mountain city and hold it for reinforcements. The capture of Chattanooga meant the possession of East Tennessee, with its loyal mountaineers a scheme that anticipated what actually took place a year later, when Rosecrans battled at Chickamauga for the possession of that which now only a handful of men sought to gain. Mitchel's signal to advance along the Memphis & Charleston Railroad to Chattanooga, from Huntsville, was to be the arrival of the victorious Andrews party with the report that the only road-going southward from Chattanooga was in ruins. Such was the scheme; the story of the raid sets forth its singular and tragic failure. Marietta, Georgia, twenty miles north of. Atlanta, was the point selected from which the return trip should be made. Here the raiders were to spend the night of April 10, and on the next day the morning train north was to be boarded, and when the breakfast station at Big Shanty was reached, the locomotive was to be seized. But the raiders were so hampered by the heavy rains while traveling overland from Shelbyville to Chattanooga that Andrews decided to postpone the raid one day, reasoning that if his small party was so delayed Mitehel 's divi sion surely would be. So it was on the night of the llth when the party, twenty-two in number, found themselves in Marietta. The next morning twenty of them, including Andrews, boarded Con ductor William A. Fuller's train, bound for Chattanooga. Two of the 1428 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS party failed to make this train. Just as was planned, the raiders seized the engine and three box cars which happened to be next the tender, while crew and passengers were at breakfast at the Lacey Hotel, Big Shanty, seven miles north of Marietta. This point of seizure had been selected because it afforded the best opportunity there being no tele graph office from which to send any intelligence of the affair. With four men in the cab and the rest of the score in the rear box car the locomotive "General" started northward. To all inquirers, who showed a most exasperating interest in the strange outfit Fuller's regu lar engine and schedule, but an unknown crew Andrews declared he was running a powder train through to General Beauregard, then at Corinth a plausible story, since this was but a few days after Shiloh. The "General" and the "powder train" were delayed quite a while at Kingston on account of some freight trains coming southward. Whether or not these were "extras" flying southward from Mitchel's investure of Huntsville the preceding day is a mooted question. Be that as it may, Mitchel did capture Huntsville April 11, just as planned. Of course, the unexpected seizure of the locomotive at Big Shanty threw all in a commotion. Conductor Fuller, being responsible for his train in more ways than one, was the first to set about its recovery. He ran after the steaming locomotive afoot! With him were Mr. Anthony Murphy, then the foreman of machine and motive power of the road, and Jeff Cain, the engineer. The runners found a platform handcar at Moon's Station, and on this they poled and pushed their way down grade to the Etowah River, being assisted by two section hands from Moon's and two citizens of Acworth. At first, pursuers surmised the,seizure of the engine was by some deserters, who took this means to get to the woods, but reports of persons along the road, together with evidences of hostility and destruction, such as cut wires, cross-ties on the rails and even miss ing rails, convinced them that a formidable enemy was ahead. At the Etowah bridge they found an old locomotive, the "Yonah," used on a spur road leading to some iron works up the river. This they pressed into service and ran the distance to Kingston at a record-breaking speed, for, strange to relate, the raiders had removed no rails between the river and Kingston. Here they were halted by the same freights that had delayed Andrews, with no possibility of passing anyway soon, seeing which, Mr. Fuller and .Mr. Murphy at once pressed into service the little locomotive "William R. Smith," of the Rome Railroad, Oliver Wiley Harbin, engineer. The raiders had left the place but a few minutes earlier. Four or five miles north of Kingston the "Smith" was forced to give over the chase on account of a missing portion of the track. Mr. Fuller and Mr. Murphy ran on, leaving the Rome road engine and its crowd, and a few miles ahead they met the '' Texas,'' with a train of freight cars, and for its engineer Peter Bracken, late of Macon, Georgia. Bracken stopped his train, and at the behest of the two pursuers, backed to Adairsville, where the cars were placed on a siding. Then, running backward, the chase was resumed. This was the last locomotive used by the pursuers. Aboard it were Captain William A. Fuller, Anthony Murphy, Peter Bracken, Henry Haney (fireman), Alonzo Martin and Fleming Cox. At Calhoun another member was added to this party a lad of seventeen GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1429 years. This was Edward Henderson, of Dalton, telegraph operator. The industrious use of wire cutters by Andrews had started the lad south ward on the morning passenger to investigate. He got no further than Calhoun, and when the "Texas" came along, was recognized by Fuller, who assisted the lad aboard the moving engine. The conductor then wrote out a message to General Ledbetter at Chattanooga, apprising him of events and the coming of the captured locomotive. This he gave Hen derson, with the instruction to send as soon as Dalton was reached. Just a few miles north of Calhoun, the pursuers came in sight for the first time, of the pursued. The latter's efforts to raise, another rail here were fruitless; their frantic attempts to impede and wreck by the use of cross-ties dropped frojn their rear and even the cutting loose of two box ears failed to daunt the intrepid crew of the "Texas." The cross-ties were removed, the box cars were shoved on to the next siding and from this on it was a test of endurance; the locomotives made rec ords that day little dreamed of by builder and owner. Screaming whis tles alarmed the towns and soldiery of the mad chase; pursuers joined in the wake of the reversed and careening "Texas," whose passage of the tunnel was but one of its many thrilling and fatalistic moments. Hard pushed, the raiders played their last card: they set fire to their remaining car, in the hopes of burning a covered Chickamauga bridge just south of Ringgold. But the game was lost the fire refused to work its destruction, largely owing to the drizzling rain and dampness that had marred any previous attempts during the course of their run. The failure of wood and water brought them to a dead stop at the* summit of the grade,'a mile and a half north of Ringgold, while leader and men took to the dense wood bordering the road. Their scheme had been foiled; had there not been this catastrophe at Ringgold they would have been stopped below Chattanooga, for Fuller's message had gone from Dalton ere Andrews could sever the wire. The .neighborhood was alarmed, and within two weeks the whole of the twenty-two men were in prison at Chattanooga most of them being taken that day and the next. Mitchel made some show of advancing on Chattanooga without his ex pected knowledge of the raid's outcome, but he was forced to retire and the town was not captured until September, 1863. Andrews, tried as a spy at Chattanooga, and seven of his men, tried on similar charges at Knoxville, were sentenced to hang the leader per ishing in Atlanta, June 7,. 1862, at a place now on the corner of Peachtree Street and Ponce de Leon Avenue. The seven men were taken from the old county jail that stood at Fair and Fraser streets, and hanged near Oakland Cemetery, on ground now owned by the street railroad company, corner of Fair and Park Avenue. Military events delayed further trials, and on October 16 the rest of the party broke jail in broad daylight, and eight succeeded in reaching the Union lines. The other six were ex changed from Richmond in March, 1863.* "THE GATE CITY": WHEN THIS SOBRIQUET WAS FIRST USED At a meeting of the early pioneers, held at the Kimball House, on the evening of April 24, 1871, soon after the original structure .was * Vol. II, "Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends," by L. L. Knight. Vol. Ill--11 1430 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS completed, quite a number of spicy reminiscences of the ante-bellum days were revived. To the fund of anecdotes, the following contribution was made by Judge William Ezzard, an ex-mayor. Said he: '' The name of the Gate City was first given to Atlanta in Charleston in 1856, and it came about in this way. When the road was completed between Charleston and Memphis, the people of Charleston put a hogs head of water on the car, together with a fire-engine, and accompanied them to Memphis for the purpose of mingling the waters of the Atlantic with the waters of the Mississippi. In the year 1857 the Mayor of Memphis, with quite a number of ladies in the party, came to Atlanta, en route to Charleston, carrying water from the Mississippi, and they also carried a fire-engine for the purpose of mingling the waters of the Mis sissippi with the waters of the Atlantic. They arrived about 12 o'clock. I was then Mayor of Atlanta, and we gave them a reception and prepared a handsome collation for them. The next morning they left for Charles ton. I went with them. There were also several others in the party from Atlanta. We arrived in Charleston, and had a grand time there. We paraded the streets, marched down to the bay, and then went through the ceremony of pumping this water from the Mississippi into the ocean. There were a great many people present on this occasion; they came from all parts of Georgia and from all parts of South Carolina; and a grand banquet was given by the people of Charleston. Everything was well arranged. There was a toast drafted for Savannah, one for Macon, one for Augusta, and one for Atlanta, and so on. The toast prepared and given for Atlanta was: ' The Gate City the only tribute which she requires of those who pass through her boundaries is that they stop long enough to partake of the hospitality of her citizens.' This was the sub stance of the toast. I may not recall the exact language. After that Atlanta was always called the Gate City, and it was never known as that before. I responded to this toast for Atlanta. It was given, I suppose, from the fact that this railroad had just been constructed through the mountains, for the purpose of connecting the West with the Atlantic seaboard, and there was no way to get to either place except to pass through Atlanta.'' * "PEACHTREE": ITS DERIVATION There is little room for doubt concerning the source from which the name of Atlanta's thoroughfare was derived. In the early days of the last century, an Indian village, called the Standing Peachtree, stood just to the north of the city's present site. The stream which meandered near the village was called Peachtree Creek, while the path which led to it through the forest was called Peachtree Trail. With the influx of popu lation, the path was eventually widened into Peachtree Road, a thorough fare which is today lined with some of the most palatial and elegant homes to be found south of Baltimore. To cite authorities: Dr. Abiel Sherwood, in his quaint little work entitled "Sherwood's Gazeteer," published in 1830, states, on page 103, * '' History of Atlanta and Its Pioneers,'' published by the Pioneer Citizens' Society, GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1431 that the Town of Decatur was then '' 95 miles northwest of Milledgeville, 25 miles southwest of Lawrenceville, 9 miles southwest of Rock Mountain, and 12 miles east of the Standing Peachtree on the Chattahooehee." The author prints the words "Standing Peachtree" in capitals, just as in the case of the towns mentioned. Moreover, since the various roads ^ entering Atlanta, viz., the Roswell, the Marietta, the Decatur, the McDonough, were each named for the towns to which they led, the same, especially in the light of other evidence, must be inferentially true of Peachtree. But there is still another witness. At the outbreak of the War of 1812, Gov. George" R. Gilmer, who was then barely of age, received a lieutenant's commission; and as soon as enough recruits were collected an order was issued for them to be put in charge of an officer, and sent into the Indian country, where active hostilities were going on against the Creeks. Says Governor Gilmer: * "I asked for the command and received it. I marched with twentytwo recruits, having no arms, except refuse drill muskets, a small quantity of loose powder, and some unmolded lead. My appointed station was on the banks of the Chattahooehee, about thirty or forty miles beyond the frontier, near an Indian town, not far from where the Georgia Rail road [meaning Western and Atlantic], now crosses the .Chattahooehee River. It was an awkward business for one who had only seen a militia muster and who had never fired a musket. I was ordered to build a fort. I had never seen a fort, and had no means of knowing how to obey the order but what I could get from Duane's Tactics. I went to work and succeeded very well, so far as I know, as the strength and. fitness of my fortification was never tested. Some few days after my arrival at the standing peachtree, a rough Indian fellow came into the camp with some fine catfish for sale. I had supplied myself with a hook and line for catching cat in the Chattahooehee before I left home, and had baited and hung them from limbs into the water. I had noticed this fellow the day before gliding stealthily along near the bank of the river, in a small canoe, where the lines with baited hooks were hung. I intimated to him that the fish he was offering to sell were taken from my hooks. With demoniac looks of hatred and revenge, he drew his knife from his belt, and holding it for a moment in the position for striking, turned the edge to his own throat, and drew it across; expressing thus more forcibly than he could have done by words his desire to cut my throat. I never saw him afterwards." THE STORY OF THE DODGE MILLIONS When William E. Dodge, the great New York merchant and lumber baron, who founded the Town of St. Simons, on the coast of Georgia, died in the City of New York, he left an estate, the value of which was expressed in eight figures. To share this splendid property there were twelve children, two of whom were Anson Phelps and Norman B. Dodge. To the first of these was born a son, Anson Phelps, Jr., and to the lat ter a daughter, who, wedding her first cousin, Anson Phelps, Jr., was * Gilmer ;s "Georgians.". 1432 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS the possessor at the time of her marriage, in her own right, of a for tune estimated at not less than three millions. Before many years had elapsed Anson P. Dodge, Jr., who was educated for the Episcopal priest hood, began to feel the lure of the foreign field. The spirit of the mis sionary became so powerful within him that he finally embarked upon the high seas for India, taking with him his young wife, who was by no means loath to share his lot in distant lands and among alien peo ples. On the eve of her departure, however, she made her will, the contents of which she kept a secret, even from her husband, acquainting him only with the fact that he was to be her sole executor. The sultry climate of India proved to be too drastic for the frlail American girl, whose delicate organism had been attuned to gentler conditions of life in her far-away home. She fell an early victim to the Indian fever; and, having her body embalmed, the disconsolate husband brought the remains back to the United States and interred underneath the chapel of Christ Church, on St. Simon's Island, near the old Town of Frederica. On breaking the seal of his wife's will Mr. Dodge found that she had made him merely the trustee of the estate, barring a nominal support for himself. The bulk of the property was to be devoted to religious and benevolent ends. He cheerfully assumed the responsibilities which were thus put upon him; and besides helping hundreds of churches and institutions, he established at Frederica the Dodge Orphanage, for the proper care and maintainance of indigent children. He also revived and enlarged the work of Christ Church parish, an organization whose beginning dated back to the days of Oglethorpe; and by his faithful ministrations .as an undersheperd he sought the spiritual betterment and uplift in his island home. The waves of influence which went forth from the old Town of Frederica touched the remotest confines of Christendom. In the meantime he married Miss Annie Gould, who entered sympa thetically and helpfully into his plans and who, since the death of her husband, several years ago, has continued his great work, infused and infilled by no little of his spirit. On the walls of Christ Church there are marble tablets commemorating the unselfish lives of the saintly pair, who, under divine guidance, sought to make the wisest and best use of the Dodge millions.* THE KILLING OF ASHBUBN: AN EPISODE op RECONSTRUCTION There occurred at Columbus, Georgia, during the period of recon struction, an episode which plunged the whole nation into a fever of excitement, and which evinced a fixed purpose on the part of the South to maintain the integrity of an Anglo-Saxon civilization. It was the killing by unknown parties of G. W. Ashburn, an offensive partisan, who represented the most extreme type of radicalism. He was a mem ber of the constitutional convention of 1865, in which body he made himself peculiarly odious to the white people of Georgia. The feelingof revulsion naturally reached a climax in Columbus, where he lived with the negro element of the population, an object of great loathsome ness to the Caucasian race. The following account of the trial is con densed from various sources : * Pi, E. J, Massey. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1433 The killing of Ashburn occurred on the night of March 31, 1868. He is said to have been a native of North Carolina, from which state he came to Georgia some thirty years prior to his death. There is very little known concerning him prior to the era of military usurpation, which, in addition to unloosing upon gflorgia a swarm of vultures from other sections, developed the baser iilftincts of men who were already residents of the state and who identified themselves for vicious purposes with these ignoble birds of prey, .There were undoubtedly some good and true men who, from conviction, advocated a policy of non-resistance; but they were few in number. Ashburn's mysterious taking off, there fore, at a time when passion was inflamed, when civil courts were sup pressed, when Georgia's sovereign statehood was outraged in the most flagrant manner, and when there was no redress for the white except through the instrumentality of the Ku-Klux, was a matter little calcu lated to produce surprise, though it created a tremendous sensation. The military authorities took the matter in hand and caused arrest on suspicion of the following parties: William R. Bedell, Columbus C. Bedell, James W. Barber, Alva C. Roper, William D. Chipley, Robert A. Ennis, William L. Cash, Elisha J. Kirkscey, Thomas N. Grimes, Wade H. Stephens, R. Hudson, W. A. Duke, J. S. Wiggins, and R. A. Wood. Besides these, there were several negroes implicated. It seems that even the blacks entertained toward Ashburn a feeling of mingled fear and disgust. For the purpose of trying these alleged offenders, a military court was organized at McPherson Barracks, in Atlanta. The counsel for the prisoners included' Alexander H. Stephens, Martin J. Crawford, James M. Smith, Lucius G. Garrell, Henry L. Benning, James N. Ramsey and Raphael J. Moses. On the side of the prosecution, General Dunn, the judge advocate, was assisted by ex-Gov. Joseph E. Brown and Maj. William M. Smythe. While in prison the defendants were subjected to great indignities. They were eventually admitted to bail, however, in the sum of $32,500 each, and not less than four hundred citizens of Columbus, representing both races, signed the required bonds. It was on June 29, 1868, that the court was duly constituted, but, at the request of Mr. Stephens, a postponement was granted until the day following. .The trial then began with the filing by Mr. Stephens of an answer in plea to the specific charges, in which, on behalf of the several prisoners, he entered a plea of not guilty to the crimes set forth. At the same time, the rightful jurisdiction of the court was traversed. With slow progress the case proceeded until the twentieth day, when orders were received from General Meade suspending the investigation until further notice from headquarters. On July 25, 1868, the prisoners were taken to Columbus, under guard. It was at this stage of tfee proceedings that they were finally admitted to bail; and, for reasons best known per haps to the military authorities, the trial of the alleged murderers was never resumed. Governor Brown's part in the prosecution of the Columbus prisoners charged with the murder of Ashburn only served to increase the obloquy in which he was held at this time by Georgians, due to his course in sup porting the election of General Grant and in upholding the policy of 1434: GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS Reconstruction. The following explanation of his course in the Colum bus affair has been given by Col. Isaac W. Avery, his accredited biogra pher. Says he : "Weighing the evidence in the matter fairly and dispassionately, it may be shown that Governor Brown, in taking part in this prosecution, was governed by proper motives and rendered a service, both to the state and to the prisoners. He alleges that General Meade employed him, on the condition which he insisted upon making, that he Governor Brown should control the case, and that, upon the restoration of civil law, the case should be surrendered by the military authorities. His employment prevented the retention of very extreme men. The corroboration of Gov ernor Brown, in this statement, has been very striking. It has been argued against its credibility that during General Meade's life, when the latter could either have verified or denied it, no explanation was made by Governor Brown of his conduct in the matter. Major A. Leyden, of Atlanta, who talked with General Meade several times about the affair, says that he was assured by General Meade that his fears for the pris-. .oners would not be realized. Mr. John C. Whitner, of Atlanta, states that Detective Whiteley, who worked up the evidence for the prosecution, told him that the understanding when Brown was employed was that the military trial was to be remanded to the State authorities, on the reor ganization of the civil government. General William Phillips, of Mari etta, testifies that Governor Brown consulted with him at the time on the subject and explained to him his attitude of mind. Major Campbell Wallace, in an interview at the time with General Meade, confirms Gov ernor Brown's statement. Many years ago Governor Brown gave his version of the affair to Hon. Alexander H. Stephens and Dr. J. S. Lawton.'' LOST AT SEA: THE SHIPWRECK OF THE "HOME" United States Sen. Oliver H. Prince, who perished at sea, on board the ill-fated steamship Home, "in 1837, was a resident of Macon. The particulars of the tragic disaster are thus narrated by Governor Gilmer: "About the first of July, 1837, my wife and I left home, in company with Mr. and Mrs. Prince, they for Boston and New York, and we for Western Virginia. The four of us had passed the time of the session of the Legislature of 1824 in the same public house, where we had our own private, table and drawing-room. Mr. Prince and I had served in Con gress together in 1834-35. We had acted together as trustees of Frank lin College, and belonged for many years to the same bar in the practice of law. Mrs. Prince was an exceedingly pretty woman. Mr. Prince was a man of wit. * We went by the way of Charleston to Norfolk. The ladies were ill most of the time. I had looked upon the ocean before, but had never been out of sight of land. Its vast expanse of ever-moving waters kept me so excited that I scarcely left the deck of the vessel until we reached port. "Mr. Prince went to the North to have printed a new edition of his Digest of the Public Laws of Georgia. When the work was completed, he and Mrs. Prince left New York for Georgia in the steam vessel, the Home. The dreadful catastrophe which befell the ship, Mr. and Mrs. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1435 Prince, and almost all the passengers, made such, an impression upon the whole country that the event is still freshly remembered by every one, whenever the bursting of boilers, the burning of steamers and the wreck of vessels are mentioned. Soon after the steamer left New York there arose a violent storm, which drove the vessel to the North Carolina coast in a sinking condition. All were stimulated to do whatever could be done to save the vessel and themselves. "Mr. Prince took command.of .the hands at the pump, where his self- possession and strong strokes showed that he worked for a nobler pur pose than fear for his own life. When exhausted by his efforts, he joined his wife, to devote himself to her safety. The self-sacrificing nature of Mrs. Prince would not yield to the temptation of clinging to her husband, when his exertions might be necessary to the safety of others on board. She urged him to return to his efforts at the pump. Immediately after wards she attempted to obey the advice of the Captain, to remove from one part of the vessel to another less exposed to danger. "As she stepped out of the cabin into an open space, a wave passed over and through the vessel, and carried her into the ocean. When the storm subsided, her body was found deposited on the shore. Mr. Prince, resuming his labors at the pump, was spared the pangs of knowing the fate of his wife. To a young man who lived to report the story, Mr. Prince said: ' Remember me to my child, Virginia.' If there was aught else the uproar of the ocean prevented its being heard. No account was ever given of the last struggle for life by those who worked at the pump. In a great heave of the ocean, the vessel parted asunder and went to the bottom."* , THE ADVENTURES OF ROBERT SALDETTE There lived in St. John's Parish, during the Revolution, a man greatly distinguished for his opposition to the Tories, by the name of Robert Sallette. It is not known with certainty to what particular command he was attached, for he appears to have been a sort of roving character of the district, and a law unto himself, doing things in his own way. The Tories stood very much in awe of Sallette; and well they might, for they possessed no deadlier foe among the patriots of Georgia; and they sought by every means possible to shorten his days. On one occasion, a Tory who possessed large means, offered a reward of one hundred guineas to any person who would bring him Sallette's head. Among the very first to learn of the offer was Sallette himself, and he resolved to claim the reward. So, casting about for a bag, in which he placed a pumpkin, he proceeded at once to the house of the Tory to deliver the prize. At the doorway, he informed his enemy that; having learned of the offer of one hundred guineas for Sallette's head, he was there to claim the amount in question, and pointed triumphantly to the bag, in which the pumpkin was concealed. The Tory clutched for the precious treasure, which bulked like a sack of pirate's gold. He was completely deceived by the clever ruse. His eyes fairly sparkled. But Sallette held him off, until the guineas were counted; and then, as the * Gilmer 's '' Georgians." .. 1436 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS last glittering coin rang in his fingers, he put his hand to his head, and raising his hat, exclaimed: '' Here is Sallette 's head!" The answer so terrified the Tory that he immediately took to his heels, but a well-directed shot from Sallette brought him to the ground. At another time, with Andrew Walthour, for whom Walthourville in Georgia is named, Sallette was in the advance guard of the American army, and coming upon the advance guard of the British army, a smart skirmish took place, in which the British were driven back. Among the enemy killed was a very large man. Noticing a pair of boots on the feet of the dead soldier, Bob resolved to possess them. He was pulling the boots off, when his comrades, alarmed at his peril, called to him to leave; but he answered with rare good humor: '' I must have the boots. I want them for little John Way.'' Sallette was frequently known to leave the American army, in the midst'of the battle, get in the enemy's rear, and kill many of them before he was discovered. On one occasion, he dressed himself in British uniform, dined with a party of the enemy, and whilst the toasting and drinking were going on, suddenly drew his sword, killed his right and left hand man, sprung upon his horse, without having time to throw the bridle over his neck, and rode off amidst the fire of his pursuers. Sallette's motto was never to forgive a Tory; and, if one was liberated, he was apt to follow close behind, with deadly intent. But the time came when he spared the lives of two Tories, for a time at least. With Andrew Walthour and another companion, he was riding along a narrow trail late one afternoon, when they met three other horse men, near Fraser's old mill, whom they suspected to be Tories bent on mischief. Hastily devising a plan of capture, it was agreed that Wal thour, who was riding in front, should pass the first and second horse men, and that Sallette should pass the first; then as Walthour came to the third man and Sallette to the second, leaving their companion to the first, it was decided to seize the guns of the three men simultaneously; and in this way the Tories were disarmed. . , "Dismount, gentlemen!" said Sallette. Then addressing the leader he inquired: '' What is your name ?'' The man replied by giving some fictitious answer. "Where is your camp ?" asked Sallette. "We are from over the river," replied the man, pointing toward the Altamaha. "Where did you cross?" was the next searching question. "At Beard's Ferry," returned the leader, indicating a point on the river where Whigs were most numerous. "That's a lie!" came the answer from Sallette. He then catechized the second man in the same manner, with like results, and finally turned to the third. "If you do not tell me the truth," said Sallette, addressing himself to the last man, "off comes your head." The man repeated his answer, whereupon Sallette took deliberate aim and fired. Realizing the uselessness of further parley, his companions confessed the truth, begged for mercy, and offered to conduct Sallette GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1437 to the enemy's camp. On this condition, he agreed to spare them; and, aided by his prisoners, he succeeded in capturing quite a number of Tories.* Curious as we may be to know something of the personal history of Robert Sallette, it is not to be found chronicled in the books. The French twist to his name makes it probable that he was a. descendant of those unfortunate Acadians who years before had been stripped of lands and possessions in Nova Scotia by the British, and they themselves trans ported. They were scattered at various points along the American coast* Some were landed at Philadelphia, and some were carried to Louisiana. Four hundred were sent to Georgia. The British had to answer for many acts of cruelty in those days, but none more infamous than this treatment of the gentle and helpless Acadians. It stands in history today a stain upon the British name. Another fact that leads to the belief that Robert Sallette was a descendant of the unfortunate Acadians was the ferocity with which he pursued the British and the Tories. The little that is told about him makes it certain that he never gave quarter to the enemies of his coun try, t THE ARREST OF GOVERNOR WRIGHT Not long after the adjournment of the famous convention which placed Georgia in the patriotic confederacy, in 1775, there occurred in Savannah an event of the most sensational and dramatic 'character. It was the capture of Govern.or Wright, the royal chief-magistrate. He was not only arrested, but was actually imprisoned within the walls of his own residence; and the whole affair was planned and executed by one man, Joseph Habersham. In consequence of the arrival at Tybee of two men-of-war, with a detachment of King's men, it was decided by the Council of Safety that the arrest of certain influential loyalists, among them John Mullryne, Anthony Stokes, and Josia Tattnall, the elder, was demanded by the exigencies of the situation. To secure the person of the governor was made the initial object of the patriots, and Major Habersham volun teered to perform the difficult task. His plans were already well laid, and on the same evening he proceeded without delay to the house of the governor, where the King's Council had assembled to consider ways and means of checking the insurgent uprise. He passed the sentinel at the door, entered the hall, and, marching to the head of the counciltable, laid his hand upon the shoulders of the governor, saying as he did so. "Sir James, you are under arrest." The audacity of the officer produced the desired effect. Supposing from the bold manner of his entrance that he was heavily supported by military re-enforcements in the background, Governor Wright felt him self to be powerless. Surprised by the unexpected turn, he was prob- * '' White 'a Collections." t "Stories of Georgia," by Joel Chandler Harris. 1438 GEORGIA AND GEOEGIANS # ably, for the first time in his life bereft of the King's English. But he soon found himself, at the same moment, quite as helplessly abandoned by the King's Council. Putting gravity aside, the sage advisers of the administration betook themselves to flight, some finding an exit through the rear door, others leaping through the windows, in the most undigni fied confusion. There was an irony of fate in the sad predicament of the governor. Despite the most diligent efforts on his part to capture the raiders engaged in the magazine affair, here he was himself captured by one of the very patriots whose punishment he sought. The fortunes of war had converted the executive mansion, for the time being, into the Colo nial Bastile. Giving his solemn parole to hold no communication with the ships at Tybee and to remain upon the premises, he was allowed to stay in the royal residence, under guard. Says Bishop Stevens: '' This is one of the most signal instances of deliberate and successful daring in the history of the war. For a youth of twenty-four, unarmed and unsupported, to enter the mansion of the chief-magistrate, and, at his own table, amidst a circle of counsellors, place him under arrest, is an act of heroism ranking with the most brilliant exploits in American his tory." It is possible that the bold officer was not without re-enforce ments behind the scenes. The authorities are not agreed upon this point; but in either event his intrepidity remains unchallenged. When the governor saw an opportunity to escape, his solemn parole was forgotten. Through the estate of John Mullryne, at Thunderbolt, he made his way to the British vessels lying in the harbor and succeeded in getting back to England. On the fall of Savannah into the hands of the British some three years later, he returned to Georgia, .and convened the Assembly which passed the famous disqualifying act of 1780. Gov ernor Wright was in many respects an excellent chief-magistrate, devoted to the public weal. But he was an officer of the Crown; and Georgia need not blush for the English noblemen who, in every phase of fortune, whether good or ill, remained uncompromisingly steadfast in his alle giance to George the Third. How SAVANNAH WAS CAPTURED Through a swamp, which lay in the rear of the town, ran a path, the existence of which was known to few. One of the number was Col. George Walton. He called the attention of General Howe to this pas sage-way, at the same time urging him to guard it with a force sufficient to make it safe; but General Howe ignored the suggestion. Unimportant as the path seemed to be, it furnished the avenue through which the Brit ish entered triumphantly into Savannah, to hold the town uninterrupt edly against the allied armies for more than two years. It was at Girardean's Landing,*about two miles below the city, that the foe disembarked. Crossing the causeway to the top of Brewton Hill, on the site of what was afterwards the plantation of T. F. Screven, the strength of the American position was at once perceived by Colonel Campbell, the com mander of the troops. The marsh presented a problem which was diffi cult of solution. However, in his reconnoissances, the commander encountered an old '. ':'% || : ;; GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1439 negro named Quanimo Dolly, generally called Quash, who informed him of the private path through the swamp, by which the rear of the Ameri can line could be gained. Overjoyed at this discovery, Campbell returned to his command and ordered Sir James Baird, with the light infantry and the New York volunteers to follow the negro through the swamp and attack the first body of troops found. To deceive the Ameri cans, he maneuvered his troops in front as if about to attack. Incorrectly informed from the very start concerning the force of the enemy, General Howe was now still further misled, and ordered the artillery to play upon the enemy's stronghold. The British did not return the fire, but maneuvered, waiting to hear from Baird. He followed the negro through the swamp, coming out at what is now Waringsville, and striking the White Bluff road, down which he advanced, falling suddenly upon a small force under Colonel Walton. This was swept away, after a short but brave resistance, in which Colonel Walton was severely wounded. The firing served to notify Campbell of the success of the stratagem. There was no need of waiting for Colonel Prevost to arrive from Florida. With the aid of the fleet in the river, under .command of the :British admiral, Sir Hyde Parker, the city was soon taken. The rem nant of Howe's army escaped into South Carolina, leaving the city to the mercy of the enemy who at once seized the most distinguished civ ilians, placing them on board the prison-ships in the river. MdNTOSH AT FORT MOERIS : '' COME AND TAKE IT ! " The gallant defense of Fort Morris, on the Georgia coast, near Sunbury, constitutes one of the most brilliant episodes of the Revolution. Col. John Mclntosh was in command. The fort was ill-prepared for an attack, and there is every reason to believe that the. rude earthwork would not have withstood the enemy's fire for more than an hour. Only 127 continental troops, with some few militiamen and citizens from Sunbury were in the garrison, but they were brave patriots. Moreover, they were commanded by a Scotchman of proverbially shrewd wit, who was an absolute stranger to fear. Colonel Fuser, in command of a fleet of vessels, bearing some 500 men, beside heavy iron mortars, was moving toward the fort from St. Augustine. It was planned that Colonel Prevost,. at the head of 100 British regulars, and supported by the notorious McGirth, with 300 Indians and Tories, should meet him at Sunbury, making the journey over land, and dire havoc to Georgia was anticipated from this union of forces. Delayed by head winds, it was late in November, 1778, when Colonel Fuser anchored near the mouth of the Midway River, opposite Colonel's Island. Colonel Prevost was beyond the reach of communication, having entered upon his retreat; but the commandant of the fleet was resolved upon bringing the fort to terms. Some of the men were landed at the shipyard, from which point they marched along the main road to Sunbury, equipped with several field-pieces. Sailing up the Midway River in concert, the armed vessels took position in front of the fort and in the waters opposite the town, while the land forces invested it from an opposite direction. 1440 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS The plans of the enemy were well laid. There seemed to be no hope for the feeble garrison under Colonel Mclntosh, and the town was other wise wholly unprotected. As soon as the preparations for the assault were completed, the British officer dispatched the following letter to Colonel Mclntosh, demanding the immediate surrender of the fort: "Sir: You cannot be ignorant that four armies are in motion to reduce this Province. One is already under the guns of your fort, and may be joined when I think proper by Col. Prevost, who is now at the Midway Meeting-House. The resistance you can or intend to make will only bring destruction upon this country. On the contrary, if you will deliver to me the fort which you command, lay down your arms, and remain neuter until the fate of America, is determined, you shall, together with all the inhabitants of this parish, remain in peaceable pos session of your property. Your answer, which I expect in .an hour's time, will determine the fate of this country, whether it be laid in ashes, or remain as above proposed." To the foregoing tart message, he subjoined the following postscript: "Since this letter was closed some of your people have been scatter ing shot about the line. I am to inform you that if a stop is not put to such irregular proceedings, I shall burn a house for every shot so fired.'' These were high-sounding phrases. They were well calculated to intimidate a man of less spirit than Colonel Mclntosh. He possessed no means of ascertaining the full strength of the British forces. He knew the weakness of his own little garrison. But courage often wins against seemingly hopeless odds. He resolved to assume a hold front, and accord ingly dispatched the following brave answer to the British officer's demand: '' Sir: We acknowledge we are not ignorant that your army is in motion to endeavor to reduce this State. We believe it entirely chimerical that Col. Prevost is at the Meeting-House; but should it be so, we are in no degree apprehensive of danger from a juncture of his army with yours. We have no property which we value a rush, compared with the object for which we contend; and would rather perish in a vigorous defense than accept of your proposals. We, sir, are fighting the battles of America, and therefore disdain to remain neutral till its fate is deter mined. As to surrendering the fort, receive this laconic reply: COME AND TAKE IT. Major Lane, whom I send with this letter, is directed to satisfy you with respect to the irregular, loose firing mentioned on the back of your letter." With the foregoing letter, Major Lane sought the headquarters of Colonel Fuser, who read it with unaffected surprise. In explanation of the irregular firing, he informed the British officer that it was main tained to prevent the English troops from entering and plundering Sunbury; an answer which did not tend to soften the feelings of Colonel Fuser. As for the threat that a house should be burned for every shot fired, Major Lane stated that if Colonel Fuser sanctioned a course so inhuman' and so totally at variance with the rules of civilized warfare he would assure him that Colonel Mclntosh, so far from being intimi dated by the menace, would apply the torch at his end of the town whenever Colonel Fuser should fire it on his side and let the flames meet in mutual conflagration. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1441 The expected assault was not made oil Fort Morris. Waiting to hear from the scouts whom he had sent into the country to ascertain the whereabouts of Prevost, he learned that he was hastening back to St. Augustine, having been worsted in a contest of arms near Midway Meeting-House, and unwilling to hazard an engagement with the conti nental forces supposed to be advancing from the Great Ogeechee River. Deeply chagrined over this sudden turn of affairs, Colonel Fuser raised the siege, forgetting the harsh terms of his manifesto. The troops were re-embarked for St. Augustine. In the St. John's River, he met the returning forces of Colonel Prevost. At last the two wings of the expe dition were united; but it was under drooping banners. Mutual recriminations are said to have.ensued between these officers, each taxing the other with responsibility for the failure of the expedi tion. Thus one of the most promising campaigns of the whole war was brought to naught by an unterrified American officer, whose fortifica tions were too weak to be maintained in open conflict. His defiant answer was a masterpiece of bold strategy; and it abundantly compensated for the lack of other munitions. The Legislature of Georgia handsomely acknowledged the conspicuous gallantry of Colonel Mclntosh on this occasion and voted him a sword on which were engraven the talismanic words: COME AND TAKE IT. THE STORY OP AUSTIN DABNEY One of the finest examples of loyalty displayed during the period of the American Revolution was furnished by Austin Dabney, a negro patriot. He came with the well-known Harris family to Pike County, Georgia, soon after the new county was opened to settlement; and here he lies buried near the friends to whom in life he was devotedly attached. The story of how he came to enlist in the patriot army runs as follows: When a certain pioneer settler by the name of Aycock migrated from North Carolina to Georgia, he brought with him a mulatto boy whom he called Austin. The boy passed for a slave and was treated as such; but when the struggle for independence began, Aycock, who was not east in heroic molds, found in this negro youth a substitute, who was eager to enlist, despite the humble sphere of service in which he moved. The records show that for a few weeks perhaps the master himself bore arms in a camp of instruction, but he proved to be such an indifferent soldier that the captain readily agreed to exchange him for the mulatto boy, then'a youth of eighteen, upon.Aycock's acknowledgment that the boy was of white parentage, on the mother's side, and therefore free. This happened in the County of Wilkes. When the time came for enroll ment, the captain gave Austin the surname of Dabney, and for the remainder of his life Austin Dabney was the name by which he was everywhere known. He proved to be a good soldier. In numerous con flicts with the Tories in upper Georgia, he was conspicuous for valor; and at the battle of Kettle Creek, while serving under the famous Elijah Clarke, a rifle ball passed through his thigh, by reason of which he ever afterwards limped. Found in a desperate condition by a man named Harris, he was taken to the latter's house, where kind treatment was bestowed upon him, and here he remained until the wound healed. Aus- 1442 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS tin's gratitude to" his benefactor was so great that for the rest of his life he considered himself in the latter's debt, and in many ways he befriended Harris, when reverses overtook him. He appears to have been a man of sound sense and,.to have acquired property, at the close of the Revolu tion. He removed from "Wilkes to Madison, taking the family of his benefactor with him. Dabney was fond of horse-racing, and whenever there was a trial of speed anywhere near he was usually found upon the grounds, and he was himself the owner of thoroughbreds. He drew a pension from the United States Government, on account of his broken thigh, and the Legislature of Georgia, in the distribution of public lands by lottery, awarded him a tract in the County of Walton. The noted Stephen Upson, then a representative from Oglethorpe, introduced the measure, and, in terms of the highest praise, he eulogized Dabney's patri otism. There was some dissension among the white people of Madison over this handsome treatment accorded to one of an inferior race. It doubtless arose, through envy, among the poorer classes. But Austin took no offense, and when an opportune moment came, he quietly shifted his residence to the land given to him by the State of Georgia. He was still accompanied by the Harris family, for whom he continued to labor. It is said that he denied himself many of the comforts of life, in order to bestow the bulk of his earnings upon his white friends. He sent the eldest son of Mr. Harris to Franklin College, and contributed, to his maintenance while he studied law under Judge Upson at Lexington. It is said that when young Harris stood his legal examination in open court Austin Dabney outside of the bar with the keenest look of anxiety on his face and that when the youth was finally admitted to practice the old negro fairly burst into tears of joy. He left his entire property to the Harris family, at the time of his death. The. celebrated Judge Dooly held him in the highest esteem, and when the latter was attending court in Madison it was one of Dabney's customs to take the judge's horse into his special custody. He is said to have been one of the best authorities in Georgia on the events of the Revolutionary war periods. Once a year Austin Dabney made a trip to Savannah, at which place he drew his pension. On one occasion so the story goes he traveled in company with his neighbor, Col. Wiley Pope. They journeyed to gether on the best of terms until they reached the outskirts of the town. Then, turning toward his dark companion, the colonel suggested that he drop behind, since it was not exactly the conventional thing for them to be seen riding side by side through the streets of Savannah. Without demurrer Austin complied with this request, stating that he fully under stood the situation. But they had not proceeded far before reaching the home of General Jackson, then governor of the state. What was Colonel Pope's surprise, on looking behind him, to see the old governor rush from the house, seize Austin's hand in the most cordial manner, like he was greeting some long-lost brother, draw him down from the horse, and lead him into the house, where he remained throughout his entire stay in Savannah, treated not perhaps as an equal but with the utmost con sideration. In after years, Colonel Pope used to tell this anecdote, so it is said, with much relish, adding that he felt somewhat abashed, on GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1443 reaching Savannah, to find Austin an honored guest of the governor of Georgia, while he himself occupied a room at the public tavern,* COLONEL JOHN WHITE : HERO OF THE GREAT OGEECHEE In December, 1778, the British captured Savannah. In September, 1779, Count d'Estaing with a force of about 1,700 men acting under instructions from the French Government, effected a landing at Beaulieu, and shortly thereafter was joined by General Lincoln. The purpose was to recapture Savannah by siege. General Preyost, the British com mander, immediately summoned from all outposts every portion of his scattered command. Some reached the British lines in safety. But Cap tain French was not among this number. With 111 regular troops, accompanied by five vessels and their crews'1 of forty men, he sought to join General Prevost, but interrupted in his attempt to enter Savannah by news of the investment of the town, took refuge in the Great Ogeechee River, about twenty-five miles below Savannah, disembarked and formed a fortified camp on the left bank of that stream. Col. John White, of the Fourth Georgia Battalion of General 'Lin coln's force, conceived a brilliant plan for the capture of French's com mand. Accompanied only by Capts. George Melvin and A. C. G. Elholm', a sergeant and three privates, a total force of seven men (some accounts state five), on the night of October 1, 1779, this daring band located the British camp on the Ogeechee and built many watch-fires at various points around it, placing the fires at such positions as to lead the British to believe that they were surrounded by a large force of Americans. This was kept up throughout the night by White and his force marching from point to point with the heavy tread of many when, accompanied by the challenge of sentinels at each point surrounding the British camp, each mounted a horse at intervals, riding off in haste in various directions, imitating the orders of staff officers and giving fancied orders in a low tone. Anticipating the presence of the enemy, Captain French believed that he was entrapped by a large force. At this juncture Colonel White, unaccompanied, dashed up to the British camp and demanded a confer ence with Captain French. "I am the commander, sir," he said, "of the American soldiers in your vicinity. If you will surrender at once to my force, I will see to it that no injury is done to you or your command. If you decline to do this I must candidly inform you that the feelings of my troops are highly incensed against you and I can by no means be responsible for any con sequences that may ensue." The bluff worked. Captain French at once fell into the trap and agreed to surrender, as he thought it was useless to battle with the large surrounding force. At this moment, Captain Elholm dashed up on horseback and demanded to know where to place the artillery. "Keep them back," replied White, "the British have surrendered. Move your men off and send me three guides to conduct the British to the American post at Sunbury." Thereupon the five vessels were burned, the three guides arrived, and the British Tirged to keep clear of the supposed * Gilmer 's '' Georgians.'' , 1444 GEORGIA AND GEOEGIANS infuriated American army hovering about, marched off, while Colonel White hastened away, collected a force of neighboring militia, overtook the British led by his guides and conducted them as prisoners to Sunbury. Nine days after this remarkable exploit, Colonel White was severely wounded at the assault upon Savannah made at the Spring Hill redoubt. He succeeded in making his escape from the British, but the wounds received so much impaired his health that he was obliged to retire from the army and died soon afterwards in Virginia.* JOHN WESLET QUITS SAVANNAH: His LOVE AFFAIR Says Dr. James W. Lee, the well-known Methodist historian and divine, in narrating the circumstances under which the great founder of Methodism left Savannah, in 1736: "During his stay at Ebene/er, Wesley opened his heart to Spanenberg on a matter which was weighing heavily upon his mind; and he has placed on record his approval of the good pastor's advice. On his return to Savannah the affair was to assume a very serious aspect, and to bring to an abrupt termination his career in the settlement. The chief man at Savannah was a certain Thomas Causton, who began his career as the company's storekeeper, and was successful in securing the good will of Oglethorpe. This led to rapid advancement, which, however, was unde served; for, some years later, he was detected in a course of fraudulent dealing and was summarily cashiered. '' There was living in his household at this time an attractive young lady, named Sophia Christina Hopkey, or Hopkins, his niece, who showed herself a devoted attendant at church services, and most receptive to the ministrations of the handsome young pastor. Desirous of learning French, she found in him an excellent teacher. Wesley's London friend, Delamotte, however, who regarded Miss Sophia as sly and designing, and doubted the sincerity of her professions, warned John Wesley against her. Wesley seems also to have discussed the matter of her sincerity or rather of her fitness to be a clergyman's wife with the excellent Moravians. The advice which they gave him coincided with Delamotte's, and the result was a distinct coolness in his manner toward the young lady. She resented the .change, and, understanding its significance, accepted the advances of a less scrupulous suitor named Wilkinson, a . man by no means conspicuous for piety. As her spiritual adviser, Wes ley still continued to visit Mrs. Wilkinson. "At length, believing that he perceived in the lady's conduct dis tinct marks of spiritual degeneracy, he deemed it his duty to repel her from holy communion. This summary and injudicious step was natu rally interpreted in an unpleasant way. The husband and uncle of the lady sued him in the civil court for defamation of character; and, in the squabble which followed, the people took part against Wesley. Hold ing peculiar views respecting the limited jurisdiction possessed by civil courts over clergymen, Wesley refused to enter into the necessary recog nizances, and a warrant for his arrest was accordingly issued. To avoid further trouble, he determined to fly, like Paul from Damascus. He * '' E. H. Abrahams,'' an article in the Savannah Morning News. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1445 left the place secretly by night, in the company of a bankrupt constable, a ne'er-do-well wife-beater named Gough, and a defaulting barber. They rowed up the river in a boat to the Swiss settlement at Purysburg, and proceeded thence on foot to Beaufort; but, misdirected by an old man, they lost the way, wandered about in a swamp, and, for a whole day, had no food but a piece of gingerbread. Finally they arrived at Beaufort, where Delamotte joined them, and thence they took boat to Charleston. Here Wesley preached again 'to this careless people,' and four days later took leave of America, embarking on board the ' Samuel,' Captain Percy. "On the voyage, which was a stormy and unpleasant one, he devoted himself to ministering to the spiritual wants of those on board. In the solitude of his cabin he gave himself up to deep heart-searching. He felt that the want of success which attended his work in America was due to some lack of real devotion in himself. As he expressed it very tersely in a note to one of the entries in his journal: 'I had even then the faith of a servant, though not of a son.' '' Meanwhile, George Whitfield, to whom he had sent a pressing invi tation to join him in Georgia, had embarked on his journey; and, the two vessels, as it happened, the one outward bound, bearing Whitfield, all aglow with missionary enthusiasm, the other about to enter port, carrying the disappointed Wesley, met at the mouth of the Thames. The question whether Whitfield should proceed or return weighed heav ily on the mind of the older man, who seems to have thought that the decision rested with him. At length, having cast lots a Biblical prac tice shared by him with the Moravians he sent word to Whitfield that he had better return. But Whitfield did not highly esteem this method of coming to a practical decision, resolved to continue on his voyage; and, in due time, he landed at Savannah."* How BISHOP HEBER'S GREAT HYMN WAS SET TO Music Some ten years before the Civil war, Dr. Francis R. Goulding, the noted author, on account of the precarious health of his wife, came to Kingston from his former home at Darien, on the Georgia coast. But the pure mountain air failed to produce the desired effect. Mrs. Gould ing grew no better, and in 1853 died, leaving six children. She is buried in the cemetery at Kingston, The maiden name of this excellent lady was Mary Howard. She was a sister of the Rev. Charles Wallace How ard, an eminent clergyman and scholar, who resided at Spring Bank, near Kingston. There is an incident in the life of Mrs. Goulding which possesses an international interest. While living in Savannah, she made the acquaintance of a young man named Lowell Mason, then a clerk in one of the banks. At her request, the latter, who had quite a talent for musical composition, set to music Bishop Heber's renowned hymn, "From Greenland's Icy Mountains"; t and Capt. B. L. Goulding, her *"Illustrated History of Methodism." t The title-page of the piece of musici in Captain Goulding 'a possession reads: "Prom Greenland's ley.Mountains, a Missionary Hymn, by the late Bishop Heber, of 'Calcutta, composed and dedicated to Miss- Mary W. Howard, of Savannah, Ga., by Lowell Mason." Published by Geo. Willig, Jr., Baltimore, Md. Vol. Ill--12 1446 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS son, owns the original copy of the song, just as it came from the hands of the afterwards noted Doctor Mason. Possessing a fine soprano voice, Mrs. Goulding sang the hymn in the choir of the old Independent Pres byterian Church, in Savannah, soon after the music was composed, and this is said to have been the first presentation to the world of an air which is now familiar to both hemispheres and is sung by millions throughout the whole of Christendom. While Doctor Goulding was engaged in teaching school at Kingston he devoted his leisure time to preparing a work on the "Instincts of Birds and Beasts," in connec tion with which he frequently corresponded with Professor Agassiz, of Harvard. It is thought that he wrote "The Young Marooners" before coming to Kingston. Doctor Goulding invented the first sewing machine ever used in Georgia. THE JACKSON OAK : A PROPERTY OWNER In the historic old City of Athens, at the foot of Bearing Street, in what is known as Cobbham, there stands a majestic shade-tree of white oak, whose claim to distinction is unrivalled by the forest giants. For more than three-quarters of a century this tree has been a free-holder, owning in fee simple the soil on which it stands. The following story was recently found in an old file of newspapers, verifying this tradition: "There is a tree at Athens, Ga., which is an owner of land. In the early part of the century the soil on which it stands was owned by Colonel William H. Jackson, who took great delight in watching it grow. In his old age the tree had reached magnificent proportions, and the thought of its being destroyed by those who should come after him was so repugnant that he recorded a deed, of which the following is a part: " 'I, W. H. Jackson, of the County of Clarke, State of Georgia, of the one part, and this oak tree giving the location of the County of Clarke, of the other part, witness, that the said W. H. Jackson, for and in consideration of the great affection which he bears said tree and his desire to see it protected, has conveyed and, by these presents, does con vey unto the said tree entire possession of itself and of the land within eight feet of it on all sides.' " To the foregoing account, Mr. Hull adds: "However defective this title may be in law, the public nevertheless recognized it, and this splendid tree is one of the boasts of Athens and will be cared for by the city for many years to come. Some generous friend to Athens, in order to show his interest in this unique freeholder, has, at his own expense, placed around the tree granite posts connected by chains, replaced the earth which the storms of a century have washed from the roots, and neatly sodded the enclosed area with grass." The friend to whom Mr. Hull refers is Mr. George Foster Peabody, of New York. JOHN GILLELAND'S DOUBLE-BARBEL CANNON Directly in front of the city hall, on College Avenue, in the City of Athens, stands a curious relic of the war period, the like of which can be found nowhere else in the world. It is the famous Gilleland gun; and the story connected with this nondescript instrument of homicide is GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1447 as follows: "Mr. John Gilleland, a member of the noted company of Home Guards, known as the Mitchell Thunderbolts, conceived the idea of making a double-barreled cannon. His plan was to load the cannon with two balls, connected by a chain, which, when projected, would sweep across the battlefield and mow down the enemy somewhat as a scythe cuts wheat. The cannon was cast at the Athens Foundry, duly bored out and mounted, and, on the appointed day, was taken out for trial to a point on the Newton Bridge road, beyond Dr. Linton 's. Here a wide track was cut through the pines and a target of poles set up side by side. From a safe distance in the rear, a company of inter ested spectators, among whom was the writer, watched the proceed ings. The gun was loaded and the balls rammed home, with the chain connecting them. The signal was given and the lanyard pulled. One ball went out ahead of the other, snapped the chain, which flew around and diverted the course of the missile into the standing pines. The other shot went wide of the mark, and the poles which represented the hostile army stood uninjured. The experiment was a failure. The can non was taken from the field and was only used in after years to cele brate Democratic victories." "Wno STRUCK BILLY PATTERSON?" It is claimed, on the basis of a well-established local tradition, that the famous query: "Who Struck Billy Patterson?" originated in Hart County, Georgia. The incident is said to have occurred several years before the war, at a public drill, given by the state militia. The muster ground was in a section of the county which then formed a part of Franklin, one of the oldest counties in Upper Georgia. There was a large crowd present to witness the maneuvers, among which number was the celebrated William Patterson. In a moment of excitement when there was something of a tumult on the ground, an unknown party dealt Mr. Patterson a blow and in the confusion of the moment escaped recog nition. The injured man on recovering sensibility exclaimed, "Who struck Billy Patterson?" But no one could tell him. Throughout the day he continued to repeat this question, without receiving an answer. Finally it crystallized into a phrase which everyone on the ground was using; and, when the crowd dispersed it was carried into the rural dis tricts. Mr. Patterson was a stranger in the neighborhood. He was, more over, a man of powerful physique; and both of these circumstances invested the assault upon him with a certain dramatic interest while at the same time it inspired no doubt a wholesome dread of his wrath. According to tradition he was the famous William Patterson, of Balti more, Maryland, whose daughter, Betty, married Jerome Bonaparte; and owning property in Georgia, his visit to the state at this time is not without an adequate explanation. Says a newspaper article on the subject: * "Fully determined to avenge the indignity offered him, Patterson persisted in his search, and subsequently offered a reward to anyone * Article in the Atlanta Constitution of February 12, 1913, on '' Mysteries of America.'' 1448 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS who would name the man. But even this tempting bait elicited no response, and in the course of time Patterson died with his dearest wish unfulfilled. But he provided for a posthumous triumph by leaving in his will a codicil to the effect that a legacy of $1,000 was to be paid to the person who, in any future time, should reveal the secret to his execu tors or heirs. A copy of this will is said to be on file in the ordinary's office at Carnesville, Franklin County, Ga.'' * NANCY HART : AN EARLY SKETCH During the year 1825, there appeared in the columns of a Milledgeville paper what is probably the oldest extant biography of the Georgia war queen. The name of the author is unknown, but the account reads as follows: "Nancy Hart, with her husband, settled before the Revolutionary struggle a few miles above the ford on Broad River, known by the name of Fishdam Ford in Elbert County, at the bend of the river, near a very extensive canebrake. An apple orchard still remais to point out the spot. In altitude, Mrs. Hart was almost Patagonian, remarkably well limbed and muscular, and ...when, quick as thought, the dauntless Mrs. Hart' seized one" of tKe-gtins, cocked it, and with a blazing oath, declared that she would blow out the brains of the first man who offered to rise or to taste a mouthful. They knew her character too well to imagine that she would say one thing and do another, especially if it lay on the side of valor. 'Go,' said she to one of her sons, 'and tell the Whigs that I have taken six d d Tories.' They sat still, each expecting to be offered up, each bearing the marks of disappointed revenge, shame and unappeased hunger; but they were soon relieved, and dealt with according to the rules of the times. This heroine lived to see her country free. However, she found game and bees decreasing; and to use her own expression the country grew old so fast that she sold out her possessions in spite of her husband and was among the first of the pioneers who paved the way to the wilds of the west." THE FAMOUS BUNKLEY TRIAL, . Some twenty years prior to the Civil war, there occurred at Clinton, Georgia, one of the most famous courthouse trials in the forensic annals *A new. light was thrown on the mystery in 1885 when Mrs. Jenny Q-. Conely, of Athol, N. Y., came forward and announced that her father, George W. Tillerton, struck the "blow, but was so terrified by the reports of Patterson's anger that he retired precipitately from the town, and the family having heard of the sum offered, Mrs. Conely implicated her father in order that she might obtain the reward. But she failed even although she related very graphic details of the occurrence as told her by her father. There was another claimant for the honor, Alban Smith Payne, M. D., who later became professor of theory and practice of medicine at the South ern Medical College, Atlanta, Ga. The encounter, according to Dr. Payne's state ment, occurred in Richmond, Va., in May, 1852. He, says: "I struck Patterson because I saw' old Usher Parsons, the surgeon to Commodore Perry on Lake Erie, lying on his back in the road, unable to rise, his white hair streaming in the air, ruthlessly knocked there by a brutal bully, and I said, 'By the eternal, I will hit you, my man, and I will hit you hard.' And I did.'' Doctor Payne was a close friend of Oliver Wendell Holmes, John G. Saxe and Edgar Allan Poe, and a lineal descendant of Colonel Payne, who, it is said, once knocked down George "Washington. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1449 of Georgia. Jesse Bunkley, a well-educated youth, of profligate habits, and a scion of one of the county's wealthiest families, disappeared from home in a most mysterious manner; and, though every effort was made to trace the young man, he could never be found. On the death of his father, the Widow Bunkley married a man named Lother, but $20,000 was left to Jesse, provided he should return home, give evidence of im proved habits, and establish his identity beyond question. Time brought no solution to the riddle. The belief at last became fixed in the popular mind that he was no longer in life, and accord ingly his property was divided among his relatives. .Subsequent to this division perhaps five years thereafter a man who bore some slight resemblance to Jesse Bunkley appeared upon the scene in Clinton and made a demand for the property, to which he claimed to be entitled. But the parties in possession demanded, in turn, proof most posi tive of the claimant's real identity before relinquishing such substantial holdings.. On this point, he failed to satisfy them, and not long there after the alleged Bunkley was arrested on the charge of cheating and swindling. It was averred in the bill of indictment that the defend ant's real name was Barber. On the trial of the case, not less than 130 witnesses were examined, ninety-eight of whom were for the prosecu tion. Four of the former college mates at Athens of the .true Jesse Bunkley were put upon the witness stand. These were Robert Dougherty, Hugh A. Haralson, Henry G. Lamar and Charles J. McDonald all of them men of distinction. But they could not recognize in Barber the features of an early schoolmate. Even his mother failed to find in his face any familiar lineaments. Barber knew just enough concerning the local environment to suggest that possibly he might have learned the story from the rightful heir. He was utterly at sea in regard to a number of matters concerning which the real, Jesse Bunkley could not have been ignorant. He was, therefore, sentenced to prison. But there are people who believe to this day that he was the real Jesse Bunkley, whose only offense was that he demanded the restitution of property which was rightfully his own under the laws of Georgia. Judge John G. Polhill presided at the trial; and, in the prosecution of the defendant,. Walter T. Colquitt, Robert V. Hardeman and William S. C. Reid three of the strongest advocates in the state were associated. LIEUTENANT BRUMBY RAISES THE AMERICAN FLAG AT MANILA During the war with Spain, in 1898, it was reserved for an Ameri can sailor, whose boyhood was spent in Marietta, to achieve signal dis tinction. This was Lieut. Thomas M. Brumby, whose father, Col. A. V. Brumby, was the first superintendent of the Georgia Military Institute,, at Marietta, a soldier who followed the Stars and Bars, and a gentle man who was universally esteemed. "Tom" Brumby was a lieutenant, on board the famous Olympia, the flagship of Admiral Dewey. He iscredited by one of the war correspondents, Mr. E. W. Harden, of the Chicago Tribune, with having suggested the plan of the battle; and, since the Spanish fleet was completely annihilated-by this exploit, whilenot an American boat was injured nor an American sailor killed, it is; no slight honor to have planned such an engagement. However, there- 1450 GEORGIA AND GEOEGIANS are other things to the credit of this gallant officer which cannot be ques tioned. It devolved upon him to hoist the American flag over the sur rendered citadel, an act which not only announced the formal occupa tion of the Philippine Islands by the United States Government, but also proclaimed a radical change of national policy, which, reversing the precedents of one hundred years, elected to keep the American flag afloat upon the land-breezes of the Orient. Eeturning home, some few weeks later, Lieutenant Brumby was the hero of the hour in Georgia. The most enthusiastic demonstration was planned in honor of the brave officer; and on the capitol grounds, in Atlanta, before an audience which numbered thousands of people he was awarded an elegant sword. Hon. Clark Howell, president of the State Senate, introduced Gov. Alien D. Candler, who, in turn, made the speech of presentation. Sea-fighter though he was, Tom Brumby faced the great concourse of people like an embarrassed school girl. He felt more at home when riding over the perilous torpedoes, but he managed to stammer his simple thanks and to tell the audience that he merely did his duty as a sailor. Unobserved by many in the vast throng, whose eyes were riveted upon the hero, there quietly sat in the background an old lady, who was bent with the weight of fourscore years. It was Tom Brumby's mother. Thus was the master touch added to a scene which lacked none of the elements of impressiveness. But the irony of fate was there, too; for ere many weeks had softened the echoes of applause, the brave lieutenant was dead. The spectacle presented on the grounds of Georgia's State Capitol was only the first part of the hero's welcome home. WHERE Two GOVERNORS HAVE LIVED : AN HISTORIC HOME The Town of Marietta has given the state two governors who occu pied the same home site: Charles J. McDonald and Joseph M. Brown. The latter, when an employee of the "Western & Atlantic Railroad, in the capacity of traffic manager, with little thought of what the future held in store for him, purchased the old McDonald place at Marietta, and, after his marriage, on February 12, 1889, to Miss Cora McCord, made this his home for the future. He purchased the property from Gen. Henry R. Jackson, of Savannah, from whose name it borrows an added wealth of associations, and here, surrounded by stately forest oaks, he has since spent the greater part of his time, in the enjoyment of an ideal home life, semi-rural in character. The site was happily chosen by Governor McDonald during the early ante-bellum period. It included originally quite a large portion of the present town, and some thing like 110 acres were embraced in the tract conveyed to Governor Brown. The old residence, which was built and occupied by Governor McDonald, was burned to the ground by General Sherman. But the comparatively new residence of the present governor was built only a stone's throw from the old chimney piles which survived the general wreck. The present governor's father was a warm admirer of Governor McDonald. It is said that the former, after drafting his first inaugural address, submitted the manuscript to Governor McDonald for approval GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1451 and was more than gratified by the fact that the old governor could suggest nothing in the way of improvement or correction. As a fur ther proof of the friendship which existed between them, one of the sons of Georgia's war governor was named for Governor McDonald. They were both men of positive convictions, and were both trained in the Jeffersonian school of politics. MARIETTA'S LITTLE BRASS CANNON ,. ., j There stands in the Confederate Cemetery, at Marietta, a little brass cannon, concerning which there is a story of dramatic interest. During the year 1852, the Georgia Military Institute, at Marietta, was presented by the state with four six-pounder guns, made of brass, to be used in the artillery drills. When .Gov. Herschel V. Johnson was inaugurated at Milledgeville, in 1856, the cadets were present. They took with them two of the guns to be used in the inaugural ceremonies; but while a cadet was loading one of them it fired prematurely, mutilating an arm of the gunner. The disastrous affair occurred on the capitol grounds. Two years later the cadets witnessed the induction into office of Gov. Joseph E. Brown, on which occasion they again took two of the guns with them; but fortunately this time there was no mishap. When the institute was closed, in 1864, by reason of the imminence of hostilities, due to the approach of General Sherman, a battalion of cadets was formed. As the boys, however, were armed with Belgian rifles and were enlisted as infantrymen, they did not need the heavy guns. So the six-pounders were left on the parade grounds at the insti tute. At the close of the war they were not to be found in Marietta. Judge Robert L. Rodgers is of the opinion that they were brought to Atlanta, in the wake of Johnston's army, and that in the battles around the beleaguered citadel of the Confederacy, the guns fell into the hands of the Federals. At any rate, they were captured by the enemy, whether at one place or at another. Years elapsed without bringing any word in regard to the missing guns. Finally, in 1909, Gov. Joseph M. Brown, who was then in office, was notified by the war department at Washington that in the arsenal at Watervliet, New York, there was a little brass cannon having on it the inscription: "Georgia Military Institute, 1851." At the same time it was stated that the trophy of war could he purchased for the sum of $150. In proportion to the sentimental value of the old relic, the amount was nominal. But Governor Brown was not authorized to pay the money out of the treasury of the state. Moreover, the ex-cadets were scattered throughout the Union the few who still survived the flight of fifty years. So the governor referred the matter to the Ladies' Memo rial Association, at Marietta. These patriotic women immediately went to work. They enlisted the co-operation of Senators Bacon and Clay and of Congressman Gordon Lee, the latter of whom represented the district. Together, they induced the Government to donate the cannon to the Ladies' Memorial Association, of Marietta. It was a generous act on the part of the Federal authorities, especially in view of the parti san role which such an engine of war is supposed to have played, but the cannon was never fired by the cadets against the United States flag. 1452 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS Soon after the matter -was thus happily settled the cannon arrived. In due time it was installed upon a pedestal of granite and placed in the Confederate Cemetery, at Marietta, within sight of Kennesaw Moun tain, to guard the heroic dust which here sleeps. On April 26, 1910; it was formally unveiled with impressive ceremonies. Judge Robert L. Rodgers, of Atlanta, welcomed the little cannon back home in an elo quent speech, while the veil was drawn by Miss Annie Coryell, the charming little granddaughter of Col. James "W. Robertson, the first commandant of the institute. There were a number of the old cadets present, besides a host of distinguished visitors, including his excellency, Gov. Joseph M. Brown. The site of the famous old school is in the immediate neighborhood of the spot where the little cannon keeps vigil. Gov. CHARLES J. MCDONALD : AN EPISODE OF His CAKEER Judge Spencer R. Atkinson, a grandson of Gov. Charles J. McDon ald and a former associate justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia, has preserved the following dramatic incident in the life of his illus trious kinsman: "Governor McDonald came into office under trying circumstances. The State treasury was empty. The evil effects of the great panic of 1837 were still pressing upon the people, like a nightmare. The great work of building the Western and Atlantic Railroad was languishing. The public debt had been decreased to one million dollars an enormous sum.in those days. Worst of all, the State credit was at a low ebb, because of the protest of an obligation of three hundred thousand dol lars, which had been contracted by the Central Bank under authority of the General Assembly of Georgia. Commerce and business generally were paralyzed. In 1837 the Legislature had passed an act allowing the counties of the State to retain the general tax, the same to be applied by the inferior courts to county purposes. As might have been expected, the counties frittered away the money. The bank was nearly destroyed by putting upon it a burden which did not belong to it, and the State was left without resource or credit. '' Governor McDonald had inherited from his Scotch ancestors a hard head and a sound judgment. Never did he need his inherent qualities more than he did in the situation which then confronted him. He first recommended that the State resume the entire amount of the State tax which had been given to the counties, with but little benefit to them and greatly to,the injury of the State. This recommendation prevailed, and a law was enacted ordering the State tax to be turned into the treasury. Almost immediately following this necessary action, the Legislature, in 1841, passed an Act reducing the taxes of the State twenty per cent. This Act Governor McDonald promptly vetoed, with an argument, brief and pointed, and a statement 'which made his veto message unanswer able. He had been re-elected in 1841 and, on November 8, 1842, in his annual message urging upon the Legislature the only effective remedy for relieving the State from its difficulties, he used these words: 'The difficulty should be met at once. Had there been no Central Bank the expense of the government must have been met by taxation. These expenses have been paid by the Central Bank and have become a legiti- GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1453 mate charge upon taxation. This must be the resort, or the government is inevitably dishonored. The public faith must be maintained, and to pause to discuss the question of preferences between taxation and dis honor would be to cast a reflection upon the character of the people, whose servants we are.' '' The issue was joined. The Legislature had rejected a measure call ing for additional taxation to meet these just claims. The session was near its close. It was evident that unless some drastic action was taken the Legislature would adjourn, leaving an obligation of one hundred thousand dollars unmet. Governor McDonald acted with firmness and promptness. He shut the doors of the treasury in the face of the mem bers of the General Assembly of Georgia, Great excitement followed. The members of the Legislature denounced him as a tyrant worse than Andrew Jackson, who had gone beyond the limits of reason. Even his political friends, alarmed at the storm which had been raised, urged him to recede from his position and to rescind his order to the Treas urer. He resolutely refused. As a result, the necessary bill was finally passed, and at the next session he was able to report an improved con dition of the finances and a revival of confidence in the Central Bank. It was without doubt a most fortunate thing for Georgia at this critical period in the history of the State that a man of Governor McDonald's firmness, prudence, and business sagacity was at the head of affairs." DANIEL MARSHALL'S ARREST WHILE PLANTING THE BAPTIST STANDARD IN GEORGIA On the first day of January, 1771, Daniel Marshall, an ordained Bap tist minister, sixty-five years of age, came from Horse Creek, South Carolina, and settled with his family, on Kiokee Creek, about twenty miles northwest of Augusta. While living in South Carolina, he had organized two churches and had incidentally made frequent evan^ gelistic tours into Georgia, preaching with wonderful fervor in houses and groves. We will gaze upon him as he conducts religious services. The scene is in a sylvan grove, and Daniel Marshall is on his knees in prayer. As he beseeches the Throne of Grace, a hand is laid upon his shoulder, and he hears a voice say: ' ' You are my prisoner!' '' Rising to his feet, the earnest-minded man of God finds himself confronted by an officer of the law. He is astonished at being arrested under such circumstances, for preaching the gospel in the Parish of St. Paul; but he has violated the legislative enactment of 1758, which established religious worship in the colony according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England. He is made to give security for his appearance in Augusta on the following Monday, and is then allowed to continue the services. But to the surprise of every one present, the indignation which swells the bosom of Mr. Marshall finds vent through the lips of his wife, who has witnessed the whole scene. With the solemnity of the prophets of old, she denounces the law under which her husband has been apprehended, and to sustain her position she quotes many passages from the Holy Scriptures, with a force which car ries conviction. 1454 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS "One of the most interested listeners to her exposition was the con stable, Mr. Samuel Cartledge, who was so deeply convinced by the inspired words of exhortation which fell from her lips that his conver sion was the result; and, in 1777, he was baptized by the very man whom he then held under arrest. After the interruption caused by the inci dent above described, Mr. Marshall preached a sermon of great power, and before the meeting was over he baptized, in the neighboring creek, two converts, who proved to be relatives of the very man who stood security for his appearance at court. On the day appointed Mr. Mar shall went to Augusta, and after standing a trial was ordered to desist; but he boldly replied in the language of the Apostles, spoken under simi lar circumstances: " 'Whether it be right to obey God or man, judge ye.' "It is interesting to note that the magistrate who tried him, Colonel Barnard, was also afterwards converted. Though never immersed, he was strongly tinctured with Baptist doctrines, and often exhorted sin ners to flee from the wrath to come. He lived and died in the Church of England. Following this dramatic episode, Mr. Marshall .does not seem to have met with further trouble; but the outbreak of the Revo lution soon suspended religious activities." . HEESCHEL, V. JOHNSON : SOME INCIDENTS OF His CAREER Both intellectually and physically, Herschel V. Johnson was one of the giants of his day in Georgia. He defeated the illustrious Charles J. Jenkins for the high office of governor, a position which he filled with great ability for a period of four years. His devotion to the Union caused him to be nominated, in 1860, for the second place on the national ticket, with Stephen A. Douglas. Though he recognized secession as a right he opposed it as remedy for existing evils. In the secession con vention at Milledgeville he was one of the most colossal figures, and allying himself with the anti-secessionists he made the greatest speech of his life in an effort to keep Georgia within the Union, but without suc cess. The forces of disruption were too strong to be overcome. There is a story told to the effect that after beginning his impassioned plea for conservatism on the floor of the secession convention, he paused at the dinner hour, yielding to a motion for temporary adjournment. Dur ing the noon recess, he either took of his own accord or was persuaded by others to take a stimulant, in order to restore his strength after the exhaustion of his great effort of the morning session. But the result proved most unfortunate. It is said that the conclusion of his great argument was lacking power due to the effects of the stimulant, and that Georgia was lost to the Union largely because the great speech of Gov ernor Johnson lacked at the close of it the splendid amplitude of power with which it began. This great Georgian was far-sighted. The disas ters which were fated to follow the impulsive action of the secession convention were distinctly foreshadowed upon his great brain, and he exerted himself to the utmost to avert the impending crisis. But the doom of Georgia was sealed. He afterwards represented the state in the Confederate Senate, at Richmond, and for years after the war he wore the ermine of the Superior Court bench. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1455 Judge Richard H. Clark,* an intimate personal acquaintance, gives .us the following pen-picture of Governor Johnson as he appeared in the earlier days. Says he: "The first political campaign which brought forth the powers of Governor Johnson was in 1840. It was the most exciting one this nation has ever experienced. There is no space to describe it. Suffice it to say that party rancor was at its highest pitch, and the people, including women and children, were wild with excitement. Governor Johnson was then but twenty-eight years old. His form was large and bulky, his face was smooth and beardless, and his entire make-up gave you the appearance of an overgrown boy. Expecting little when he arose, you were soon to enjoy the surprise of listening to one of the most power ful orators in the State or the Union. His bulky form gave yet more force to his sledge-hammer blows. His oratory, though powerful, was without seeming design or knowledge of it on the part of the speaker. His words escaped without the labor of utterance. His style was ani mated, but the speaker himself hardly seemed to be conscious of it, so intense was his earnestness. He simply discharged his duty to the best of his ability, and left the effect to take care of itself. This campaign gave him a State reputation." Governor Johnson embraced, to a limited extent, in later life, the religious philosophy of Emanuel Swedenborg, of whose writings he became an industrious student. He married Mrs. Anna Polk Walker, a lady of rare personal and intellectual charms. She was a daughter of Judge 'William Polk, of the Supreme Court of Maryland, a niece of President James K.. Polk, of Tennessee, and a cousin of Lieut.-Gen. Leonidas Polk, the famous Confederate officer who was both soldier and bishop. Gov. CHAKLES J. JENKINS: IN EXILE PRESERVES THE SEAL OP GEORGIA While occupying the office of governor, during the days of recon struction, Charles J. Jenkins performed an act of civic patriotism, the bare mention of which, after a lapse of fifty years, still awakens a thrill of admiration. To prevent the executive seal of the state from being profaned by the military satraps, Governor Jenkins, on being deposed from office by the Federal officer in command of the district, General Meade, took the instrument of authority with him into exile among the mountains of Nova Scotia, and there kept it until the reins of government in Geor gia were restored to the Caucasian element.! Under an act of Con gress, passed early in the year 1867, Georgia was grouped with Alabama and Florida, in what was known as the Third Military District of the seceding states; and the saturnalia of reconstruction was begun. The *" Memoirs." t Most of the accounts state that it was the great seal of Georgia which was carried into exile by Governor Jenkins. But this is a mistake. According to Hon. Phillip Cook, the present secretary of state, the great seal of Georgia has never been disturbed. It was the executive seal, which figured in this dramatic episode of reconstruction. The great seal of the state is used in attesting papers which bear upon interstate or foreign relations and is stamped upon a piece of wax, which is then attached to the document. The executive seal is used in the ordinary trans actions of the executive department, without the formalities above indicated. 1456 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS negroes now voted for the first time and the registration lists, which were supervised by the Federal authorities, contained as many Hacks as whites. At an election held for delegates to a convention, the avowed purpose of which was to remold the organic law of the state, thirtythree blacks were chosen; and the mongrel body which met soon there after amended the constitution, committed Georgia to republican pledges, and ordered another election for governor and statehouse officers. Thus haying disposed of the business on hand, the convention was ready to adjourn. But the hotel bills of the delegates still remained to be paid. As commander of the military district, General Meade directed Governor Jenkins to draw a warrant upon the treasury of the state, for the pur pose of defraying the conventional expenses. But Governor Jenkins did not think that the disfranchised taxpayers of Georgia should be made to foot the bill for this sort of a banquet, and he firmly refused to issue the desired order. On receiving this note, General Meade forthwith removed Governor Jenkins from office, detailing Gen. Thomas H. Ruger to act as governor; and, to avoid any unpleasant hitch in the proceed ings, Capt. C. F. Rockwell was detailed to act as treasurer. The sov ereignty for Georgia was ruthlessly outraged by the usurpers. It was now the victorious high-tide of the military regime in Geor gia. The rule of the bayonet was supreme. But Governor Jenkins was determined to uphold the honor of the commonwealth at any cost; and ' he quietly departed into exile, taking not only $400,000 in cash and leaving an empty strong box for the carpet bag administration, but also taking the executive seal of the state, which he avowed should never be affixed to any document which did not express the sovereign will of the people of Georgia. Depositing the money to the credit of the state in one of the New York City banks, he then crossed the Canadian border line into Nova Scotia, where he kept the insignia of statehood until Georgia was at last emancipated from the bonds of the military despotism which enthralled her. On the election of Gov. James M. Smith, he emerged from his retirement and formally restored the execu tive seal to the proper authorities, expressing as he did so the satisfac tion that never once had it been desecrated by the hand of the military tyrant. The Legislature of Georgia suitably acknowledged the fidelity of Governor Jenkins by adopting appreciative resolutions in which the governor then in office was authorized to have struck without delay and presented to Governor Jenkins a facsimile of the executive seal of Georgia, wrought of gold and stamped with the following inscriptions: "Presented to Charles J. Jenkins by the State of Georgia. In arduis fidelis." MAJ. ARCHIBALD BUTT.- A HERO OF THE TITANIC On board the ill-fated Titanic, which struck an iceberg in midocean, on the evening of April 15, 1912, was a gallant son of Augusta, Georgia Maj. Archibald Butt. At the time of his death, Major Butt was one of the best known men in American public life, having served as chief of the President's military staff, under two national adminis trations, and for eight years no one ever attended the brilliant social GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1457 functions at the White House without being impressed by the ereet and graceful figure of the handsome officer. The disaster in which he lost his life was the greatest marine trag edy of modern times an ocean holocaust, in which over 1,500 souls per ished. The Titanic was the greatest vessel afloat. She was making her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York; and some of the most emi nent men of the world were on board. The unwritten law of the sea "women and children first" was rigidly enforced; but the inate chivalry of Archibald Butt made it a needless one, so far as it con cerned himself. He was not among the number saved. Only the meagerest details of the . colossal tragedy reached Washington after days of anxious waiting, and when hope for the brave officer's rescue was finally abandoned, Mr. Taft's comment, made with moisture in his eyes, was this: "He died like a soldier and a gentleman." The President afterwards .came to Augusta for the express purpose of paying a heart felt memorial tribute to his beloved chief of staff. Archibald Willingham Butt came of an old Augusta family, and on the banks of the Savannah River at this place he was born on Septem ber 26, 1866. Here he grew up, attending the local schools; but, losing his father when quite a lad, it was mainly by his mother's hand that the youth was reared. The latter was a Miss Boggs. It was the ardent wish of the boy's mother to see her son in the pulpit, and with the hope of making a minister of Archibald she sent him to Sewanee. But the lad's ambition was to enter the army the life which fascinated him most was the soldier's. As a sort of compromise, on leaving college, he drifted into journalism, but without relinquishing his dream. In the course of time, he became the Washington correspondent of the Atlanta Journal, and by a most singular coincidence one of his associates on the paper at this time was the brilliant Jacques Futrelle, who was destined to share his watery grave in the mid-Atlantic. Major Butt's nearest surviving relatives are his two brothers, Edward H. Butt, of Liverpool, and Lewis Ford Butt, of Augusta. John D. Butt, a third brother, met death in a railway accident a num ber of years ago. About the same time he also lost an only sister. When on a visit to Atlanta, some few months before the tragic disaster, Major Butt incidentally remarked: "My ambition is to die in such a manner as to reflect credit upon the name I bear." He may not have recalled this wish amid the waters of the wild Atlantic, on the night when his brave soul went out; but his ambition was fully realized. The citizens of Augusta have built a memorial bridge in his honor to span the Augusta Canal and to keep his name in green remembrance amid the scenes of his youth. At Sewanee, Tennessee, a memorial tablet has already been unveiled in the halls of his alma mater, and a handsome monument has also been erected by his comrades of the army in Arling ton National Cemetery, Washington, D. C. On April 15, 1914, the handsome memorial bridge erected by the citi zens of Augusta in honor of Maj. Archibald Butt was dedicated in the presence of a vast throng of people, numbering perhaps 5,000. It spans the Augusta Canal at the intersection of Fifteenth and Greene streets, near the site of Major Butt's old home. Ex-President of the United States Hon. William H. Taft delivered the principal address of the occa- 1458 GEORGIA AND GBOEGIANS sion, in addition to which the Masonic rites constituted a most impressive feature of the exercises.* ANECDOTE OF SENATOR WEST " When William S. West, a recent senator from Georgia, was teaching school down in the Southland he had occasion several times to reprimand one of his girl pupils. She was a pretty little rascal and so full of life that she was constantly getting into pranks that upset the calm, studious decorum West wished to maintain. One day West told her that if she did any more whispering he would feel obliged to give her a whipping. She merely giggled merrily at the threat, and within five minutes was whispering once more to a girl across the aisle. West bade her step up in front. He had told her he would whip her, and he felt obliged to make good. It is not altogether chivalrous for a strong man to inflict corporal punishment on a young girl, espe cially when she happens to be both plump and pretty, but discipline is .discipline, and West had started out to be a martinet. Still he hesi tated when it came right to the point of taking a switch, and inflicting pain in the same ruthless way that he did on unruly boys. As a com promise measure he picked up a ruler and smacked the mischievous young creature several only moderately severe blows on the palms of the hands. She was a game little scamp and did not cry as most girls would have done. Instead, she stamped a pretty little foot and scornfully declared: "I'll get even with you for that." After she had resumed her seat, West wondered if he had really hurt her when he smacked her little hands. It did seem like a shame to cause suffering to one so thoroughly attractive. He had never noticed before how really pretty she was. The next day, and the next, while appar ently glaring at the school to preserve order, West was in reality staring at just one pupil and wondering how he had ever overlooked the fact that she was about the prettiest young person he knew. Time went on and West quit teaching school, but he kept up an acquaintance with a few of his pupils, particularly with the young girl whom he had smacked on the hands with a ruler. Gradually he made a wonderful discovery with regard to her, viz., that the oftener 'he called on her the more he would see her. So he called frequently. Several times during this period she laughingly recalled the schoolday incident and repeated her threat that she would get even with him some day. After the lapse of some years they were married. Just after the officiating clergyman had finished his part of the entertainment, Mrs. West looked up at her new husband with a funny twinkle and said: '' I told you I 'd get even with you.'' t * Vol. II, "Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends," by L. L. Knight, t From the Washington Post. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1459 THE LAST DAYS OP MB. STEPHENS Never will the campaign of 1882 be forgotten in Georgia. Too feeble to meet the strenuous demands of the stump, Mr. Stephens'nevertheless appeared before the people at such well selected times and places as made it evident that he was still a master of strategy. What his voice lacked of its old power to create an electric thrill, his emaciated figure, as he wheeled himself before the footlights, in part at least supplied, and again, at the age of threescore years and ten, the old statesman was fairly electrifying the state, from Rabun Gap to Tybee Light! None of the dramatic elements were lacking in the scenes of which his rollerchair was the center. There was something about the inanimate wood which seemed to stir the profoundest emotion. Perchance it suggested the patriarchal blessing. Or it may have told of the sleepless hours which the patient sufferer had so repeatedly experienced when, racked with pain, he had sentineled the midnight watches, keeping an eye upon the lattice of his window until across the brightening fields he could see the dawn approach. Or it may have whispered of the viewless ministries which kept him in correspondence with another clime whose border surges he could almost hear. But whatever may have been the explana tion of the almost superhuman magnetism which spoke from the embrace of that roller-chair, it filled the air with electric needles which pierced the enrapt listener to the very marrow of his bones. And such thun derous volleys of applause as greeted the veteran statesman were never surpassed in the lustiest days of the old whig party when, with an elo quence which the great Kentuckian himself could hardly have equaled, he had first unfurled the civic banner and preached the political faith of the illustrious Henry Clay. But even while the admirers of Mr. Stephens stood at the polls and voted him into the executive chair of the state, there came from the ballot-box an almost audible voice which seemed to say that the old man's tenure of office would be short, and that the commonwealth would soon be called to mourn the veteran statesman whom at the last moment she had made her governor merely, as it seemed, that he might climb the mountain, like the ancient prophet, to fall asleep in the chastened solitudes of the uplifted silences. Scarcely had three months registered the deepening snowfalls upon the already white locks of the aged governor before the spectral courier arrived at the door of the executive mansion. Toward the close of Feb ruary Mr. Stephens, importuned by the people of Savannah, had gone to the Forest City to speak at the Sesqui-Centennial. Numerous rea sons impelled him to make this visit, which proved to be his last. In the first place, the occasion itself was historic and appealed strongly to his state pride. Again, some of his warmest friends and supporters were among the cultured residents of Savannah, not the least of whom was the gallant Henry R. Jackson, whose eloquent voice had resounded over the entire state in the late campaign. Moreover, Mr. Stephens, who lived in the upper edge of the midland belt, wished the people of the lower areas to feel that he was the impartial governor of all Georgia, upon whose map of official favors the wire-grass tracts and the 1460 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS sandy levels were fully as conspicuous as the processional peaks of the Blue Ridge. He therefore went to Savannah. And, though feeling none too well on leaving home, he nevertheless entered heartily into the spirit of the great festival. On the brilliant platform, gaily festooned with banners, he caught the inspiration of his parting syllables; but, even as he waxed unwontedly eloquent, in rehearsing the story of Geor gia's infant struggles, it was evident that the glow which suffused his face was not the auroral light of the commonwealth dawn. It was rather the lingering flush on the western horizon whose roseate signal unlooses the sunset guns. Immediately upon returning home Mr. Stephens was taken violently ill. He was destined never to rise from the bed which he was now obliged to seek. However, it was not the visit to Savannah which caused or even hastened Mr. Stephens's death. The time fixed for his departure was at hand. The candle had slowly melted down to the socket and the hour hand had reached the fatal number on the dial-plate. But the spirit of the great statesman had so often hovered along the mysterious hedge-rows of life that in spite of the years which were now heavily mul tiplied upon his feeble shoulders it was not seriously thought that the time of the Great Commoner had come. Neither the people of Georgia who were so accustomed to reading bedside bulletins from Mr. Stephens in the morning newspaper prints, nor the old statesman himself, who was so accustomed to waging sick-room battles with the minions of dis ease, seemed to realize that death was imminent. But nevertheless the Grim Destroyer was encamped upon the executive lawn. Back into the cosy apartment at the extreme end of the hall on the left, which Mr. Stephens had selected as his bedroom on taking posses sion of his new official home in Atlanta, the pale invalid sufferer was again borne; nor was he destined to leave the embrasure of that room until his eyelids had closed in the deepening dusk of that mysterious sleep which had puzzled the weary Hamlet. One of the first official acts of Mr. Stephens three months before had been to order down the huge bedstead which had conjured up at once in his simple democratic mind the powdered wig and pampered flesh of that spoiled child of royalty Louis the XIV. In place of the sprawling claws of this "flowery bed of ease" Mr. Stephens had substituted an unpretentious little single couch which looked as if it might have filled an humble corner in the cotter's highland home. It had always been the pet notion of the Great Commoner, more sentimental perhaps than scientific, that he could sleep better if he paralleled the course of the Mississippi River and slept with his head directed toward the arctic zone while his limbs meandered toward the equatorial belt. Amusing as it may seem, this whim con trolled the legislation by which his domestic economy was governed; and he had caused his little cot to be pointed north and south in keeping with the precise bearings of the compass. In another corner of the room he had arranged for the reclining comforts of his colored bodyguard, whose tidy bedstead revealed no adverse discrimination, and whose familiar name, like his distinguished master's, was Aleck. It might be time well spent to pause upon the beautiful relations which existed between the faithful bodyguard, whose ear was as keenly attuned as an Indian's to the softest accents of the night, and the invalid master, GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1461 whose life had never known the sweet companionship which heaven had graciously vouchsafed to man, when age-long years ago the first lone hermit awoke from the most ravishing of dreams minus a rib but plus a helpmeet to find himself no more an Eden bachelor. But this apartment, under' the new administration, had been devoted to affairs much more substantial than the airy fabrics of sleep. It was the workshop of Mr. Stephens. On account of the delicate health of the feeble old governor the office of the state capitol had been exchanged, Sxcept on occasions of urgent necessity, for the office at the executive mansion. Such was the arrangement which he had made at the start; and, besides purchasing a clock to arouse the inmates of the room betimes, he had also procured, apparently from Noah's ark, a row of files which he had placed against the walls for important documents and letters. And, indeed, it almost looked as if Robinson Crusoe, in addition to hous ing his man Friday, had also made arrangements for accommodating his pigeons. During the two weeks in which Mr. Stephens lingered after taking his bed for the last time there were frequent intervals in the midst of severe bodily suffering which he gave to official business. It was charac teristic of the great man that the pains which racked his body unless accompanied by the severest pangs of the guillotine or the worst tor tures of the Inquisition were never allowed to disturb 'his official obliga tions ; and as long as he could rationally sign the name which he meant for Alexander H. Stephens, but which no one without the key could ever decipher, unless he had first mastered the ancient symbols of the Egyptian monuments, he continued to pen it to official documents. It was equally characteristic of the Great Commoner that the last service in which his feeble fingers were ever employed was an act of executive clemency. The altruism which ennobled the whole life of Mr. Stephens asserted itself in the most trivial things. Someone had sent him a box of oranges from Florida; and though he had passed the point where he any longer had relish for the fruit, he ordered the oranges to be parcelled out between the inmates of the house so that each could receive two. The cause of Mr. Stephens's death was an old malady superinduced by riding up from the depot in a cab from which a pane of glass had been displaced, exposing him to the cold draft of an inclement February morning. The physical distress which followed bore so plainly the fea tures of former attacks that Mr. Stephens was not at first alarmed; but when the customary remedies failed to give the usual relief he began to feel some uneasiness. However, it was not the trepidation which is felt by one who dreads the future which he finds himself obliged to face. Mr. Stephens had long ago put his house in order. He labored under none of the fears which are bom of the darkness. Doctor Steiner was hastily summoned from Washington; but being detained at the death bed of Gen. Dudley M. DuBose, he could not respond at once. However, he hurried to Atlanta as soon as he could get release. Mr. Stephens rallied somewhat after Doctor Steiner arrived. An invincible hope kept him busy down, to the last moment, planning what he expected to do when he was well. It was the cheerful optimism char- Vol. Ill 13 1462 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS acteristic of the invalid who has fought and won so many grim battles; but it was pathetic to the point of tears to watch the brave spirit as it still continued to struggle even after the pale flag had commenced to flutter above the wasted citadel. Often had the newspapers of the state told of the death of Mr. Stephens only to recall the premature announce ment, but the sables of mourning were now to be donned upon authorita tive tidings. Often had the grave yawned to receive the victim who was ever at the gates, but the tomb had been robbed for the last time, and the jealous portals were now to claim the coveted tenant. Among those who gathered about the sick-bedside to witness the last scene in the life which was now slowly ebbing were the two ladies of the household, Mrs. Stephens and Mrs. Grier, both near relatives; Doctor Steiner, the old family physician, who had so often attended the patient; Col. C. "W. Seidell, his private secretary; Col. John A. Stephens, his nephew; Hon. John T. Henderson, Dr. H. V. M. Miller, Doctor Raines, Judge Hall, A. L. Kontz, E. C. Kontz, T. B. Bradley and R. K. Paul. Besides there were two servants. It was not until Saturday, March 3d, that the condition of Mr. Stephens had become alarming. But he had now commenced to sink rapidly, and shortly before midnight Doctor Steiner had spoken the message: '' The Governor is dying.'' Though it had to come it was none the less bitter to those who had so long waited upon the helpless sufferer; and not the least forlorn of the silent group was the faithful black bodyguard, poor Aleck, whose best friend was now telling him good-by. Doctor Miller, who had been de voted to Mr. Stephens for years, kept his hands almost constantly upon the feeble wrist in which so faint were the pulsations that the existence of life could hardly be detected; and neither Doctor Miller nor Doctor Steiner could tell the precise moment when the spark was extinguished. But the invalid had ceased to suffer. The great democrat had died as simply as he had lived. One of the.warmest admirers of Mr. Stephens in the sorrowful coterie about the sick bedside was Antoii Kontz, then the local superintendent of the Pullman Company. It was Mr. Kontz who furnished the hand some Pullman coach which brought Mr. Stephens from Crawfordville to Atlanta. Several invited guests had gone to escort the governor-elect to the capitol; and in the speech-making which preceded the departure from Crawfordville one of the orators told him that he was to travel like a prince; but Mr. Stephens, without waiting for him to stop, interrupted the speaker with the remark ."There are no princes in Georgia. At least I am not one of them. I am only the servant of the people.'' It is said by those who stood at the bedside that the last articulate utterance which ever fell from the lips of the Great Commoner was: '' Get ready, we are nearly home.'' Perhaps in the delirium of his dying moments the old governor, weary of the cares of state in the busy capital, was hurrying back over the iron rails to. Crawfordville, and, looming above the tree-tops on the distant hillside, he had caught the familiar turrets'of old Liberty Hall. Perhaps it. was the black face of his old bodyguard which framed itself in his dying thoughts as he spoke those simple words, '' Get ready, we are nearly home.'' But, even if this was GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1463 all, those commonplace words addressed to an old negro whom he loved were not unworthy of the golden approaches to the palace of the King. With such an executive command still warm on the lips of the old governor, it could not be said that death had really darkened the abode of power which had so lately opened amid the flare of tapers and the sparkle of gems to welcome the incoming occupant. An almost breathless hush pervaded the halls, of the executive mansion.' The tapers were out and the jewels flashed against sorrowful faces; but, in spite of the doleful symbols of an altered scene, it was far more appropriate to say that the old governor had been once more inaugurated! All was at last over. The doctor was now dismissed. The crutch was laid aside for good. The roller-chair was no longer needed. At last after seventy years there had fluttered down through the Sabbath hush of the sick-bedroom an old, old prescription which had made the invalid well. His wish had come true at last. Those lips had been dashed at the fountain which the Spaniard sought in vain. Those limbs had waxed strong and youthful. Those heart-beats had commenced anew to keep perpetual step to music that never ceases. It is unseemly in the mute mourner who bends over the attenuated figure to keep back the tears; for the absent loved ones are always missed. But over the beautiful clay let the laurel instead of the cypress rest; for in the goblet of death, fresh from the vintages of yonder hills, Alexander H. Stephens has found the elixir of life.* FROM THE FIERY FURNACE TO THE SENATORIAL TOGA At the close of the Civil war there was no man in Georgia more deservedly popular than Joseph E. Brown. He had not only occupied the executive chair of the state for an unprecedented period of eight years, but he had been, during all this time, in no mere technical or official sense, the commanding figure of the commonwealth. He had been admittedly Georgia's favorite son; for, even more nearly than Toombs or Stephens or Hill or Gordon, he had been identified, throughout the tur bulent era of conflict, with Georgia's immediate fortunes. Nor was he less idolized when the historic walls of the old capitol building at Milledgeville were exchanged for the dungeon walls of the old capitol prison in Washington City. But Joseph E. Brown was fated to experience within the next few months the most-pronounced reversal of public favor and to suffer unremittingly for the next fifteen years the most trying ordeal of political ostracism which has probably ever been known in Georgia. This sudden revolution of the wheel of fortune was caused by the readiness with which he accepted and the zeal with which he urged Georgia to accept the congressional measures of reconstruction. The logic which underlay this course, to quote the language of Judge Speer, was grounded upon "the international law which fixes the power of the conqueror and restricts the rights of the conquered"; but Gov ernor Brown put it subjunctively in this form: "If we could not successfully resist the North when we had half a million bayonets in *Vol. I, "Eeminiscences of Famous Georgians," by L. L. Knight. 1464 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS the field, how can we resist now when he have none?" Powerful as was the force of this argument, it was strongly combatted by the racial fact that the southern people were the inheritors of proud blood which had never bowed submissively to yokes and chains. Governor Brown realized this fact and moreover deplored what he recognized to be the injustice of the reconstruction wrongs; but this inventory of the obstacles only emphasized the unpalatable truth that the vanquished South was completely at the mercy of the victorious North; and he argued that resistance instead of mitigating would most likely only increase the hard ships of defeat. AVon also by the magnanimity of Grant to Lee he felt that something- was due the victor of Appomattox and he reasoned that the favor of such an influential chief secured by prompt acquiescence would in all probability do more than all else toward accomplishing the desired ends. But he knew that the South was in no mood to listen to such counsels then, however sure she might be to adopt them ultimately; and he knew also that the course which he felt compelled to take would most likely result in bitter alienations and misunderstandings. It is per haps the highest test of patriotism to be willing to relinquish popularity for principle. Governor Brown had none of the hypocrisy which affects indifference to applause. He appreciated the favor of the public as only one can appreciate it who has won such favor not by the sudden con quests of the moment but by the gradual accretions of the years; but he preferred to steer by the. tranquil light of the polar star in the far-off distance rather than by the illusive clouds which drifted above the ship. It required courage of the martyr-school to make the choice which duty dictated under these painful circumstances, but he calmly fashioned his resolve; and, instead of taking the open road which wound through the heathery fields to Canaan, he took the rugged and upward path which sloped through the olive glooms. Vindication had come at last. The senatorial toga by the sovereign voice of the great State of Georgia had now been conferi'ed upon the man of snow-white beard and hair who had so lately emerged from the fiery furnace. Six years later he was again elected with only one vote against him. Never was public sentiment more overwhelmingly reversed or triumph more complete. Voluntarily retiring from public life in 1892, after having represented Georgia for more than twelve years in the United States Senate, he retained until his death the unwavering support and confidence of his fellow citizens who had learned to honor him anew. Nor was he ever more tenderly reverenced in the old days than now. He had been tried in the fire and found to be pure gold. Besides accumulating an immense fortune in attestation of his business sagacity and judgment he had also reared monuments to his generosity and public spirit by his judicious benefactions, having given over $50,000 to the Baptist Theological Semi nary at Louisville, Kentucky, and another $50,000 to the University of Georgia, for the encouragement of poor boys who were the special wards of his affection. Thus from an humble beginning, by dint of persever ance and industry, the friendless lad who had first appeared on the slopes of the Blue Ridge years before, with the slenderest prospects of suc cess in life, had not only reached the dizzy summits, but having twice GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1465 met and conquered adverse fortune, lie had made himself, in some respects at least, the most striking figure of his times. Joseph E. Brown was again upon the heights. Once more the old commonwealth lay at the feet of the farmer boy of Gaddistown. He had climbed above the cloud-belt and stood beneath the starry stretches. The vapors had slowly given place to the ramparts of the granite rocks and the reward of patient years had flowered at last in the splendors of the firmament. He had retired of his own free will from the highest arena of the nation, withdrawing like the aged gladiator who droops beneath his locks but bends more heavily beneath his laurels. He could now rest. Wan and worn, the tired old man lay down. The withered hands sought each other in the clasp> of coming sleep. The pallid lips grew tight. The eyelids closed. The wrinkles faded one by one. At last he slept; and all was now serene and beautiful. The sun. had set in the west wearing the purple robes of the King. The farmer boy of Gaddistown had gath ered the last crop of golden wheat from the once scant but now rich acre of ground. The mountaineer had fallen asleep on the mountains.* "ALMOST HOME": SENATOR HILL'S DEATH Sufferings, like sunset clouds, often beautify the couch of Death. * * * It was probably at least four years before the end came that Mr. Hill, while in Washington, noticed an abrasion on the left side of his tongue, scarcely larger than a pin's head. Since the irritation was only slight, he gave it little .thought, supposing, that a tooth had caused it by producing a bruise which the nicotine from smoking had slightly inflamed. He was not a man to worry over trifles; and, though the obstreperous little pimple refused to quiet, he patiently allowed it to nibble upon his nerves for months. But finding eventually that the little disturber had become an ob stinate sore, he began to apply mild correctives. It was useless, however. Astringents proved unavailing. He was about to consult Doctor Gross, of Philadelphia, the noted surgeon and specialist, when he was diverted from his purpose by an insistent friend who urged him to consult an eminent physician of New York, Doctor Bayard. Doctor Bayard pro nounced the trouble benign ulcer, and immediately began appropriate treatment. But this was most unfortunate. The diagnosis being incor rect, the remedy applied failed to reach the seat of the disease; and the disorder, which in the beginning could have been easily eradicated, was given an opportunity to root itself more firmly in the system. An exciting political campaign had now opened in Georgia in which Mr. Hill was expected to bear some part, but he was obliged to excuse himself on the ground that an ulcerous eruption upon his .tongue made it necessary for him to abandon his expected speech-making. This was the first intimation which the public had received of the malady which was destined to end the life of this glorious Georgian; and the fact that his eloquent tongue, which had so often roused the echoes of the state, was the seat of the trouble not only furnished capital for thoughtless criticism but material for mystified and puzzled comment. The" tongue of all *Vol. I, "Reminiscences of Famous Georgians," by L. L. Knight. 1466 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS other tongues in Georgia, which spoke the senatorial language of the silent Webster and even revived the coronal accents of the old Demos thenes, might well have excited the bewilderment of Georgians when it told of the only infirmity it ever bore. Idly as the public may have en-, tertained it at the time, little believing that any serious harm could ever reach the throne of sceptered eloquence from such an unregarded source, it nevertheless remains that the fatal canker underlay the blossoms of his brightest victories in the Senate and put an expiring note in the music of his lustiest syllables. It was not until July 19, 1881, that Mr. Hill became truthfully aware of the real malignant character of his disease. He had patiently endured the treatment which, as it now clearly appeared, had been grounded upon an incorrect hypothesis; and seeking Doctor Gross, whom he found at Cape May, he was told that the trouble was cancer and that the use of the knife, if effective at all, must be employed at once. Without alarm ing his family by telling them what his intentions were, he prepared for the operation, feeling that his strong constitution, which was never more vigorously the abode of robust health, would safely tide him over the dangerous ordeal. The operation was performed at the Jefferson . Hospital in Philadelphia, and resulted in some immediate benefits. Being joined by members of his family, who hastened to him on receiving the news of the operation, he soon commenced to regain strength. But the roots of the malady had spread to the base of the tongue; and subse quent operations only proved the futility of baffling with an evil which could not be successfully resisted. If the aid of surgery had been invoked months before it might have been different, but it was now too late. Though Mr. Hill gradually wasted away under the devastating rav ages of the malady, his buoyant spirits refused to droop and his forti tude cheerfully endured operation after operation until exhausted nature could go no further. Full of plans and purposes for serving Georgia in the great arena into which she had called him, he was anxious to live. So long had his muscles of oak withstood fatigue and weariness and so vigorous and virile had been his bodily and mental health, even after disease had comniertced to make fatal inroads, that he could not yield himself readily to death. It cost an internal struggle; but heroism won. He calmly bowed his head and waited his summons. Often had he pro tested against oppression and wrong; but no murmur crossed his lips now. Stricken and speechless though he was, Mr. Hill was never more sublimely eloquent in all his splendid arguments; for, bent beneath the cross of anguish the prince of orators was silently pronouncing '' the ora tion on the crown." Several weeks before the end came Mr. Hill was taken to Eureka Springs in the hope that the magical waters of this famous resort might prolong his tenure of life and accomplish what neither the skill of the surgeon's knife nor the tonic of the salt-sea air could possibly do; but he was not able on account of the inflamed condition of his throat to drink sufficiently of the invigorating crystal to derive the least benefit, and he languidly turned in his thoughts towards his old home in Georgia, "Take me back," said he, "back to Georgia. God's will be done. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1467 My work is finished; my time is close at hand. But I want to die on Georgia soil. Take me back home.'' And so the loved ones bore the sufferer home to Georgia. Never will those who witnessed the home-coming of the great orator forget the scene presented at the depot when the wan face of the pallid sufferer smiled wearily upon the vast assemblage of anxious fellow townsmen who were there to bid him welcome back. He knew it was perhaps the last look which he would ever have into the upturned faces of the mul titude whose plaudits had so often cheered his accents; and most of those who with tearful eyes greeted him in silence heard something whisper through the solemn hushes that they would never look again upon his breathing form. During the days of suspense which followed he saw as many of his old friends and followers as his feeble strength would allow. He usu ally broke into tears when they approached him; but it seemed to do him good to see them and he usually gave them some tender thought upon paper, which it need not be said was sacredly prized and kept. He never lost his interest in things around him. It was evident that Geor gia was ever present in his thoughts: Georgia, his old mother state, whose name was lettered upon his heart and whose memories now mingled with his dreams of heaven. Whatever may be the explanation which psychology gives of the fact, it is curious to observe how prone the mind is, with approaching dissolution, to wander backward to the old frontiers of life. The looks which day puts on at dawn come back again at dusk. The earliest recol lections tread airily upon the latest moments of existence and the April colors of the morning return to kindle the November foliage of the sun set. Nor was this unwritten law of nature inoperative in the last hours of Mr. Hill. Back of the stormy years in which his eventful midday life had been pitched he lived again in the sunny area of air-castles where he had first nurtured and nursed his budding ambitions. But the happy mood which tranquilized the emotions of the patient sufferer was not dependent upon the gleanings of this remote period. The mysterious alchemy of sunset brought gold out of clouds and strained sweetest honey from bitterest combs. Nor was this true alone of his physical sufferings. It was equally true of his turbulent midday strifes and discords. Beyond the satisfaction which comes from the serene consciousness of duty faithfully performed he had also the added balm of enmities at rest. One of the sweetest of all the pathetic scenes which beautified the last moments of Mr. Hill's life was one which no artist's brush can paint. Two men who had faced each other in the fiercest storms of politics now faced each other in the waveless calm of silence. They had met before in kindness. They had shaken hands over the buried issues of the past. But there was something in this present meeting which told of clearer understandings. There they sat. The one pale and wan, but with shrunken lineaments of beauty which told of fibres in which life had once been lusty; the other active and alert but with silvery locks of age which told of wintry days whose icy clasp was coming. Both were thinking of the past. But if the memory of the angry years crept back it was only in the echoes which time had mel lowed into music. Tears only were spoken, but never spoke the crys- 1468 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS tals of speech more eloquently than now spoke the crystals of science. Those tears welled up from the deepest fountains. They uttered no articulated sounds, but they silently breathed an unworded language which Joseph E. Brown and Benjamin H. Hill both understood. In like manner came also Alexander H. Stephens. . But the crown ing glory of the death-bed scene of the great Georgian was born of the martyr-heroism with which his Christian spirit bore the ordeal of an almost unparalleled affliction. No rebellious murmur of protest told of the crucifixion agonies which the very nature of his malady revealed: and he calmly endured his sufferings, feeling that an all-wise Providence knew best what discipline of love to give him and that the shining shores were not far distant on which the waves of anguish were to break. This was evident from the last expression which he ever framed: '' Almost home." Slowly he withered day by day until at last the August morning dawned to take him. The weary eyelids drooped arid closed. The wrists grew pulseless. The heart which had been the temple of so much glorious life could ripple the wasted arteries and feed the smoldering fires no more. The lips parted and met again. The soul had slipped through the gates of purple and now rejoiced within the gates of pearl. "Almost home" had become "Home at last." Such were the final moments of Georgia's peerless orator. Nor was it unmeet that when the end should come the finger of dis ease should be laid upon the instrument which had so often borne him to the ether blues of eloquence, just as the archer's arrow strikes the pinion on which the eagle soars aloft; that the voice which had so often charmed the multitudes with all the ravishing notes of music should now at last be silent when there were no more harmonies to sound; that the tongue which had branded such blistering philippics upon the fore heads of his country's foes should be at last consumed by the coal of fire which it caught from the glowing embers of the golden altar.* JOHN FORSYTE .- DIPLOMAT Little is heard nowadays of John Forsyth. But in the archives of the nation's capitol this distinguished Georgian is ranked among the ablest of American diplomats. It was through the skillful negotiations of Mr. Forsyth that the whole of the peninsula of Florida was acquired by the United States Government from Spain, in 1819. The consideration involved was $5,000,000, ,a small sum when we consider the strategic importance and marvelous fertility of this semi-tropical stretch of land at the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Forsyth, at the time of this important transaction, was United States minister at the court of Madrid, an appointment which he held under President Monroe. The demand for the purchase of Florida had originated in Georgia. Since the time of Oglethorpe, the Spaniards in Florida had been troublesome enemies of the state; and it was not unusual for predatory bands of marauders to cross the border-line into Georgia * Vol. I, '' Reminiscences of Famous Georgians," by L. L. Knight. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1469 on expeditions of plunder. Later, the perils of the southern frontier had been increased by lawless bands of white adventurers, Seminole Indians and fugitive slaves, who had settled in upper Florida beyond the Federal jurisdiction. To put an end to the depredations which were retarding the develop ment of South Georgia, the purchase of Florida seemed to be imperative; and Mr. Forsyth, from his seat in Washington, brought every conceivable argument to bear upon the administrative councils. He riot only pictured the horrors of nightmare from which the people of South Georgia were suffering at the hands of savages and outlaws, but he also emphasized the paramount importance to the United States Government of the whole Florida peninsula, which, holding the key to the Gulf of Mexico, would always be an incubator of trouble until it floated the American flag. Unanswerable as was the logic of this appeal, it was not until General Jackson, in 1818, invaded Florida, defeated the Seminole Indians and captured Pensacola that the idea of purchasing Florida from the Spanish Government was seriously entertained. Then arose the crisis in which Mr. Forsyth as ambassador to Madrid was given authority to negotiate with Ferdinand VII. Nor was it long before the sagacious Georgia statesman was instrumental in concluding an agreement by virtue of which, barring the purchase of Louisiana from Napoleon in 1803, Uncle Sam acquired the largest strip of property which he had ever bought in open market. It hardly needs to be said that Mr. Forsyth was an extraordinary man. Apart from the achievement already mentioned, the most cursory glance at his career in public life will establish this fact; for he was congressman, g'overnor, senator and cabinet officer, besides minister to Spain. The descriptive accounts of the distinguished Georgian represent him as being an exceedingly affable and courtly man. Rather under the medium height, he lacked the towering proportions of Mr. Crawford, but he was strikingly handsome in appearance and gravely dignified in demeanor. As an orator he was scarcely the inferior of Judge Berrien, who was styled the American Cicero. On one occasion he crossed swords with Judge Berrien in an argument which lasted for three days. It was on the question of the tariff, which -was the vital topic of the Jackson administration. The discussion took place at the great anti-tariff con vention which was held in the fall of 1832 at Milledgeville, Judge Ber rien opposing and Mr. Forsyth supporting the famous measure. Mr. Forsyth was at this time the leader of the Jackson party in the United States Senate, and though the resolution which he advocated in the con vention was finally lost, it was found that the majority vote cast against the resolution came from the minority poll of counties. This resxilted in the withdrawal from the convention of all the administration supporters under the lead of Mr. Forsyth. Some one writing in the Boston Post, years ago, under the fascinating spell of the Georgian's eloquence, declared that the rhythmic accents of Mr. Forsyth's voice suggested the musical notes of the yEolian harp. Still another has compared him to Judge Story, stating that while he spoke rapidly, his words mingled in the most exquisite of harmonies: 1470 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS And Mr. Benton, of Missouri, who was for many years his colleague, says that for resourcefulness of argument and for readiness in debate upon almost every topic he had no superior on the floor of the American Senate. Controvertialist though Mr. Forsyth was, he seldom betrayed violent passion, and was never known to irritate an antagonist in debate by rude thrusts or harsh repartees. This was not because he was not highspirited. He was like the average Georgian in having temper to spare. But he was diplomatic. He was Lord Chesterfield, minus his powdered wig and his knee-buckles. He observed at all times the urbanities of the courtier, and if he now and then inflicted wounds upon an adversary, it was not with the meat-axe, but with the rapier. Refinement is often only smooth veneer, but with Mr. Forsyth it was innate gentility; and, even when at rare intervals he indulged in satire, his accents were like echoes from the Horacean harp. Men who are cast in this delicate mold are often inclined to be patrician, but not so with Mr. Forsyth. He was all duke and all democrat. JUDGE BEREIEN : THE AMERICAN CICERO The United States Senate, in the year 1829, included some of the ablest leaders of the ante-bellum period of American politics. It was the beginning of what may be termed the golden age of the Senate. The high-water mark of oratory in America was reached in the year following when the greatest of modern debates occurred between Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts, and Robert Y. Hayiie, of South Carolina. In the chair sat the shaggy-haired old nullifler, John C. Calhoun. Before him, on either side of the chamber, were ranged men whose equals have not ap peared since then upon the public stage. Wrapped in deep thought, there sat the eagle-eyed and lion-headed Webster, the great champion of the Federal Union. Henry Clay was still in the Lower House; but the great compromiser's son-in-law was there, Thomas H. Benton, who, because of his fight against paper currency was called "Old Bullion." Never theless, within this circle of orators, when the genius of eloquence was at its meridian height, John MacPherson Berrien, of Georgia, stood so con spicuous for polished oratory in debate that he was dubbed by his col leagues and known until his death as the American Cicero. Judge Ber rien was trained to argument. In the phrase of Beaconsfield applied to Lord Stanley, he was "the Rupert of debate." But the intrepid charge was ever made with the polished blade. It was impossible for Mr. Ber rien to speak upon any subject without giving it an interest borrowed from his own classic molds of expression. Ornateness of style was rarely the end at which he aimed. But his commonest respirations were breathed in an atmosphere of culture, and his simplest every-day thoughts naturally clothed themselves in the garniture of elegance. He spoke the court language of the Augustan age; and, to show that strength was united to grace in the diction which he lent to practical ends, it was actually upon the mill-grinding topic of the tariff that Berrien, in voic ing the protest of the State of Georgia, made himself immortal among American orators. Mr. Berrien was called from the United States Senate in 1829, soon GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1471 after making the speech to which allusion has just been made, to enter the Cabinet of President Jackson .as attorney-general. It was probably the masterful eloquence of the Georgia senator in denouncing the op pressive inequalities of the tariff and in supporting the protest so ably with the proofs of logic that caused him to be selected as the legal adviser of the presidential board. General Jackson was not in favor of the high protective policy which was destined in the near future to call forth Calhoun 's doctrine of nullification; but eventually it seemed to become an administration measure which received the support of the Jackson party in Congress. Complications arose which prevented the administration from accomplishing the repeal, and this entailed the condition of affairs which brought the great nullifier to the front and started between Presi dent and Vice-President the feudal animosity which subsequent develop ments were soon to augment. How PEGGY O'NEILL DISSOLVED A PRESIDENT'S CABINET It was just at this crisis in the history of the Government that one of the most sensational episodes in the social life of Washington took place, the result of which was not only the dissolution of President Jackson's Cabinet, but also the sign-board notice of the great divide between whigs and democrats. For, whatever may have been the ultimate cause of divergence, an event which occurred at this time signalized the parting of the ways; and Mr. Berrien was one of the erstwhile supporters of General Jackson,who took the whig route. Strange to 'say, the dynamite which produced this tremendous upheaval was dressed in petticoats, and the modest label which stamped the dainty package of nitro-glycerine was Peggy O'Neill. This bewitching disturber of the peace of Washington was the daugh ter of an innkeeper at whose popular tavern many of the national legis lators sojourned. "Old Hickory" himself, when in Washington, patron ized the well-kept establishment, and held in very high respect the plain people who ran the hotel. Just before the Jackson administration opened Peggy O 'Neill, who had married a purser in the United States navy, was 'bereaved by the death of her husband, who had committed suicide in the Mediterranean, and, though she now returned to Washington as the Widow Timberlake, she was still Peggy 0 'Neill to all the town gossip of the National Capital. Gay and vivacious, the multitude of her maiden charms made quite natural the return to her maiden address. She had been christened Margaret. But of course such an old-fashioned name possessed too much avoirdupois to match such an ethereal bit of woman hood. She was, therefore, called Peggy, and not since Peg Woffmgtori held the London stage in the days of Garrick was the name ever linked with associations more dramatic. If Peggy O'Neill brought her weeds to Washington she kept them under lock and key; and in front of the stately mirror which hung in her boudoir she cultivated the art of looking young until she fairly rivaled the month of May. Nor were the horns of the moon many times refilled before the grave old senator from Tennessee, Maj. John H. Eaton, was kneeling at the feet of the dashing widow. General Jackson had been elected, but,had not yet taken his seat as President when Major Eaton 1472 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS called upon the future occupant of the White House, and, in the con fidence which Tennesseeans were permitted to exchange, he whispered something in the old soldier's ear. "Why, of course, Major," said the old hero of New Orleans, with an arch smile playing upon his rugged cheek-bones, '' if she is willing to put up with you, take her by all means." General Jackson knew that there had been some talk about Peggy 0 'Neill. But he put no faith in gossip. Years before he had taken the part of an injured woman who had subsequently become his wife and who had continued, under the happiest of circumstances, to share his lot until just before the presidential election, when she had fallen asleep in the old man's tender arms. Mrs. Jackson had always believed in Peggy O'Neill. Why should he listen to Washington gossip? Still, he was glad that Major Eaton had taken the step which was calculated to keep tongues from wagging; and he encouraged the nuptials. Moreover, it must be remembered that General Jackson was not an aristocrat of the Bourbon type. He wag an unpretentious man of the people. As for Major Eaton, he may have contemplated an altogether different sort of alliance. But Cupid is given to strange antics. The gallant knight of the toga was smitten. Orders were sent to the nurserymen for hot-house plants to be left at the 0'Neill tavern; and in due time sweet Peggy 0 'Neill became Mrs. John H. Eaton. Such marriages are not unusual in the brilliant centers accustomed to sensational denouements; and, flavored with the spice of romance though the affair was, it would very soon have been forgotten or remembered only as an incident in the social life of Washington had not an appointment been made, in the summer months, which lifted it out of the drawingroom circles and made it the burning issue of American politics; Peggy 0'Neill's new husband was called into President Jackson's Cabinet as secretary of war! The ironies of fate are frequently most keen; but nothing could pos sibly surpass the well-nigh tragic humor which underlay this appointment to office. Innocent himself of any belligerent feelings, Major Eaton be came the storm-center of the new administration : he was the husband of the beautiful Bellona whom the dames of Washington tabooed. He must have been pathetically conscious of the double sense in which he repre sented the bureau of hostilities. However, it will he impossible to realize the actual plight in which the war secretary found himself without knowing what followed. No sooner was it announced that Major Eaton was scheduled to enter the Cabinet of President Jackson than the leaders of Washington society began to prepare for an aggressive campaign; and President Jackson was soon to find that he had urgent need of all the good stout fibres of the forest monarch after which he had been nicknamed, '' Old Hickory.'' Nay more; for Achilles himself would soon have exhausted the fighting strength of the Myrmidons in this fierce battle with the Amazons of social Washington. It required far less nerve to defy the United States Bank, or indeed the British troops under General Packingham than it did to face the batteries of this martial band of female warriors. But General Jackson was not the man to yield at first sight of the enemy, GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1473 however terrifying the approach might be; .and Henry IV planted the standard of Navarre less defiantly at Ivry :.than General Jackson did the standard of O'Neill in Washington. The tavern-sign of the old guest house became the war banner of the new rebellion. In due time the war secretary took his place at the President's council board; but the sequel shows that this investiture did not by any means involve the recognition of Mrs. Eaton as one of the Cabinet ladies. It only sounded the bugle- call to battle. Every effort was made to induce President Jackson to rescind the executive canon which made it necessary for social Washington to extend even the most formal courtesies to Mrs. Eaton. The pastor of the church which he had been in the habit of attending sought first by indirect and then by direct methods of approach to warn him against the woman about whom there was so much scandal; but, after hearing the ministerial pro test, he remained still unconvinced and continued to give the benefit of the doubt to Mrs. Eaton. Later on he invited Doctor Campbell, the minister in question, and also Doctor Ely, to come before the Cabinet, which invitation they accepted. But the old general insisted upon con ducting the examination himself; and, when the interview was over, he merely turned to the members of the Cabinet and said: "You see, gentlemen, it is just as I told you. AVhere's the* proof?" If the war secretary was present the situation must have been very embarrassing. Still he could not have been otherwise than gratified at the blunt Scotch verdict of the old general, who was the sworn friend of the 0 'Neill Tavern. But the investigation failed to accomplish the pacific object sought, even in the President's own household, for Mrs. Donelson, his niece, who was keeping house for him, refused to call upon Mrs. Eaton. Thereupon the President suggested that she had better return to the Tennessee mountains. This she did, remaining away until the presidential anger had subsided; and Mrs. Andrew Jackson, Jr., m the domestic economy, took the place of the absentee. At the Eaton nuptials Mr. Berrien had been present as one of the invited guests; but, strange to say, he had heard none of the gossip con cerning Peggy O'Neill. However, he was not to remain long in igno rance of what was the live issue in Washington. All the members of the Cabinet who had wives were duly apprised of the social crusade against Mrs. Eaton. And naturally the condition of affairs was most awkward; for there were three gentlemen in the Cabinet whose friendly feelings toward the war secretary were of the kindliest sort, but whose feminine partners squarely refused to call upon Mrs. Eaton. It not only divided the Cabinet into the married and the non-married factions, but it also intensified the already sharp antagonism between General Jackson and Mr. Calhoun, for the vice-president, being among the benedicts, could not uphold the President's championship of Mrs. Eaton. The situation was painfully embarrassing to the war secretary, but it was hardly less embarrassing to the Cabinet members who were bound by the most chivalrous sense of honor to observe the social regulations which were much older than the Jacksonian edicts. Daily the complications grew more and more serious, and it began to look as if an open rupture might occur at any moment. General Jackson, 1474 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS without employing the polite phrases of the French court, had already intimated the duty of Cabinet ladies. He was determined that Mrs. Eaton should he recognized. But the Cabinet members, who fell under the ban of the President's displeasure, were equally determined that neither General Jackson nor any one else should legislate for them in matters of established etiquette. So far as the member from Georgia is concerned, it is safe to say that Mr. Berrien was the last man in the world who could be deliberately discourteous to Major Eaton or rudely unehivalrous to Mrs. Eaton. He was an old Southern aristocrat. Not even General Jackson himself could precede him in extending knightly protection to an unfortunate member of the weaker sex; but he reasoned with sound logic that his first allegiance was to Mrs. Berrien. Now it happened- that the secretary of -state, Martin Van Buren, was not only an old widower, but also an accomplished diplomat accus tomed to the use of finesse. Being, unincumbered with domestic cares and anxious perhaps for political reasons to cultivate the old general, he promptly espoused the cause of Mrs. Eaton and undertook by subtle methods to accomplish the difficult end in view. Neither the English nor the Russian ambassador happened to be married. They both agreed to further the plans of the wily little magician; and both in time gave elegant receptions to which Peggy was invited and at which she was shown signal honors by the hosts. Still it was said to he impossible to hold together any cotillion in which Mrs, Eaton took part. It was evident that the crusade .against the beautiful Bellona was not only most pronounced but also most universal. At one of the social functions Mr. Van Buren persuaded the wife of the minister from Holland to sit by the side of Mrs. Eaton at dinner. This she agreed to do with some reluctance and .allowed herself to be escorted to the table; but, on discovering that Mrs. Eaton occupied the seat of honor, she deliberately turned around and walked from the room. It is said that General Jackson was so incensed when he learned of the slight to his fair protege that it was all he could do to keep from giving the lady's husband his passport back to Amsterdam. Following the diplomatic receptions, an elaborate dinner was at last held in the east room of the White House. Upwards of eighty guests were invited, including the chief government officials and ladies; .and the British minister himself escorted Mrs. Eaton to her place at the feast, which was next to the President. But only the court favorites and sycophants of the administration deigned to smile upon the fair beauty, against whom "Washington society was steeled, in spite of the most per sistent effort of the nation's chief executive to put down what he con sidered an outrageous libel upon an unfortunate woman. It is difficult to withhold from old General Jackson unstinted respect for the uncom promising fidelity with which he stood by Mrs. Eaton, against whom he believed that the only charge which could possibly he proven was that she was an innkeeper's daughter. Rugged old democrat, the course which he took was thoroughly noble; but he failed to appreciate the full force of the social insurrection. In the end the -old hero of New Orleans -was obliged to haul down the 0 'Neill standard and to run up the white flag of York. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1475 Nevertheless, months elapsed before General Jackson was brought to capitulation. He still sought in various ways to overcome the opposition to Mrs. Eaton. Finally he threatened to dissolve the Cabinet unless the wives of Cabinet members should observe his wishes at least so far as to leave card's. 'But he was informed that he had no right to exert official power to regulate social intercourse. Anger now obtained the mastery over judgment, and President Jackson straightway charged the married members of the Cabinet with conspiring against Eaton to oust him from the portfolio of war. But nothing could have been further from the facts. General Jackson realized that he had spoken hastily; offered blunt apologies; and, what promised to be an upheaval of Vesuvian violence, was for the time being averted. But week followed week without seeming to develop any occasion for calling together President Jackson's Cabinet, and executive business began to suffer. At last it was announced that John MacPherson Berrien, attorney-general; Samuel D. Inghram, secretary of the treasury, and John Branch, secretary of the navy, had resigned from the Cabinet of President Jackson. To disguise the underlying cause of the rupture. Mr. Van Buren was at the same time appointed minister to England; Postmaster-General Barry was made minister to Spain and Major Eaton became territorial governor of Florida. Thus the President's of ficial household was completely dissolved by the burning issue which was fleshed in the beautiful personality of Mrs. Eaton. Altogether it was one of the most unique and, at the same time, one of the most colossal sensations ever known in the social life of the nation's capital. The result was far-reaching. John C. Calhoun missed and Martin Van Buren clinched* the presidential office, largely because of the .altered fortunes which the Eaton episode brought about; for Jackson employed every agency of the administration to further the aspirations of Van Buren and to thwart the ambitions of Calhoun. It is the most conserva tive of statements to say that when all the returns are tabulated it can be' shown that Peggy 0 'Neill produced more real havoc in high society than any other woman on record since Helen of Sparta started the Trojan war. Mrs. Eaton survived "the sensational episode until the late '70s. She is said to have been quite popular at the Court of Madrid when Major Eaton became United States minister to Spain. Some time after the death of her husband, which occurred in 1856, she married an Italian dancing-master by the name of Antonio Bachignani, who was more than thirty years her junior. The divorce court brought her release from this last affinity; and, having reached the advanced age of eighty-four years, Peggy O'Neill-Timberlake-Eaton-Bachignani bade adieu to the world upon whose dramatic stage she had eclipsed the ovations to the London lass and even anticipated the laurels of the divine Sarah. SPEAKER CHARLES F. CRISP : WHY HE WAS NOT AN ACTOR If Charles F. Crisp failed to become an actor of the Shakesperean School, it was not because he lacked the strong bias of heredity or the local influence of environment. He was born at Sheffield, England, on January 29, 1845, of actor parents who were touring the British Isles; 1476 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS and from the earliest days of cradledom he was .accustomed to the sonorous accents of the Bard of Avon. However, the Crisps were not enrolled among the subjects of Queen Victoria. They came from this side of the Atlantic, and represented the best ancestral strains of the American Revolution, as well as the best traditions of the American stage. Perhaps there are Georgians still living who recall the engagements which the Crisps played in making the theatrical rounds of the state during the old ante-bellum days. The substantial box receipts, the enthusiatic ovations, and the high professional standard which the Crisp name symbolized to the theater-going public, were all well calculated to arouse the latent ambition of the youth whose veins were by no means strangers to the dramatic fire. Besides, Booth and Forrest needed suc cessors in the stellar roles which they were soon to relinquish. But. the tragic mantle possessed few attractions for the future parliamentarian and statesman who was scheduled to succeed to the honors of Howell Cobb in presiding over the American House of Representatives. Once elected to the National House, the genius,of the Georgia jurist for statesmanship of the highest order became apparent and he was sub sequently six times reelected without substantial opposition. Judge Crisp was not an orator in the popular sense. Pie possessed none of the sophomoric attributes of the boisterous declaimer. Though fluent he was not florid of speech. He preferred argument to ornamentation, and spoke to convince rather than to please. He possessed animation, but what he said was characterized by the pellucid crystal of the mountain stream rather than by the impetuous vaulting of the cataract. He was not given to verbal preparation but he was prone by reason of the judicial instinct to weight the specific gravity of words. He spoke like one who was read ing the scales. The effect was to convey the impression of unusual reserve power. Moreover, he possessed an intuitive grasp of the true govern mental principles; and, amid the most turbulent scenes of debate in the popular branch of Congress, he seldom lost his calm poise of manner or his deferential attitude toward an antagonist. He was an undisputed master of the art of disputation. Consequently, when Mr. Carlisle, whose election was in jeopardy, re fused, on the assembling of the Fiftieth Congress, to appoint the com mittee on elections which was to decide the contest and referred the matter to the House, it is .not surprising that Mr. Crisp, of Georgia, should have been called to the chairmanship. The position was one which levied the most exacting demands upon the resources of the incumbent. But Mr. Crisp proved that he was the man for the place, and he con siderably enhanced both his prestige upon the floor and his reputation throtighout the country, by the manner in which he acquitted himself. But the republicans triumphed at the polls in the succeeding con gressional election. Speaker Reed assumed the gavel which Mr. Carlisle relinquished, and Mr. Carlisle became the leader of the democratic minority upon the floor. However, the stalwart Kentuckian was soon called by the Blue Grass State to wear the senatorial toga, and, upon the retirement of Mr. Carlisle, the minority leadership devolved upon Mr. Crisp, who fell heir to this position more by reason of his sheer fitness than by virtue of his rank in. the committee assignments. Some idea of GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1477 the qualities which he brought to the task of directing the democratic maneuvers upon the floor may be derived from the soubriquet applied to Mr. Crisp by Amos J. Gumming, of New York, who styled him "the John Bright of the American. Commons.'' It was during the Fifty-first Congress that the country was regaled by the unhappy discussion of the celebrated Force Bill which sought to put the ballot-box at the South under bayonet supervision and to reenact the infamous saturnalia of reconstruction. To prevent the contemplated in justice it was necessary not only to hurl the red-hot javelins of debate but to make skillful use, at the proper moment, of such precautionary and protective measures as were afforded by the rules of procedure. In the sparring which ensued over the proposed legislation, Mr. Crisp evinced the most intimate knowledge of the science by which deliberative bodies are governed, and Speaker Reed, whose arbitrary tactics were already beginning to sprout and whose sympathetic leanings were toward the measure in question, was constrained to keep within the limits estab lished by the manual. Happily for the deepening sense of national brotherhood, the contemplated ballot-reform bill was defeated. The entire Georgia delegation stood in opposition to the proposed scheme like the Macedonian phalanx, but to Mr. Crisp in large measure belongs the credit of the victorious finale. " Democracy having swept the country in the elections which ensued, the Fifty-second Congress bent the knee of allegiance to the Jeffersonian principles and called Charles F. Crisp to the speakership of the House. In the caucus which preceded the formal ballot he was opposed by some of the best men in the party, among the number being Roger Q. Mills, of Texas, and he received the nomination only by the narrowest margin; but, in the chair of office, so conspicuously marked was his knowledge of parliamentary law, his fairness in making decisions even when party interests were involved, his calm and courteous bearing under the most provocative assaults of partisan antagonism .and his prestige for states manship, that he was virtually unopposed for reelection. Thus not only over the Fifty-second by also over the Fifty-third Congress he held the gavel, and in the opinion of both sides of the chamber his efficiency as a presiding officer was unsurpassed. On each of the occasions which witnessed the election of Mr. Crisp to the speakership, the republican candidate was Thomas B. Reed, of Maine. Again, when the Fifty-fourth Congress assembled the same con testants were upon the field. Mr. Crisp received.the solid democratic support, but the republicans were once more in control of the Govern ment, and Mr. Reed was elected. On assuming the gavel Mr. Reed imme diately promulgated the rules by virtue of which he became known as the Czar. They were not only innovations upon the established prece dents of the House but they were departures from the time-honored prescriptions of parliamentary law. He insisted upon counting as present all members of the opposition who were observed to be in the hall, but who were constructively absent by virtue of refusing to respond when the roll was called. Despotic and dictatorial as the rule was, in ignoring the minority rights Speaker Reed was sustained by the dominant faction to which he belonged. Since then the democrats have never re- Vol. Ill--14 1478 GEORGIA AND GBOEGIANS gained the ascendancy in Congress and the rule has been continuously enforced. Some lively passages-at-arms occurred between Speaker Reed 'and Mr. Crisp, during the stormy days of the Fifty-fourth Congress; and on more than one occasion the presiding officer beheld, in the person of the Georgia congressman, another Daniel come to judgment. But the critical moment in the life of Judge Crisp came in 1894 when Governor Northen tendered him the seat made vacant by the death of Sen. Alfred H. Colquitt, in the upper branch of Congress. This un solicited compliment came as a surprise to Judge Crisp. But the appointment was made in recognition of his distinguished services to the state and in deference to the evident wishes of the people of Georgia. Mr. Crisp was then occupying the speaker's chair. He was not indif ferent to this great honor; but, fettered by official obligations which he could not disregard, he suppressed the dictates of ambition and declined the proffered appointment. Thrice Caesar is said to have put away the crown which was offered him by Mark Antony upon the Lupercal. But the virtuous example of the great Roman general, in repelling, three separate times, the imperial emblem, was an act which involved no greater sacrifice and bespoke no truer patriotism than did the self-abnegating course of this conscientious Georgian in refusing only once the senatorial toga. To represent Georgia in the United States Senate had been the dream of Mr. Crisp since first entering the arena of politics. He had made no effort to disguise an ambition which was both legitimate and honorable. Temperamentally he was better fitted^for the sober councils of the upper branch of Congress than for the violent wrangles of the popular chamber. Moreover, when the appointment was tendered, he received assurances from more than one senatorial aspirant in the state to the effect that he would have no opposition before the Georgia legislature; and, among.the recognized candidates who gave him this magnanimous pledge was Hon. Augustus 0. Bacon. The coveted prize seemed to be fairly glittering within the grasp of the great Georgian. But rather than abandon what he considered to be his post of duty at the national capital he preferred to lay his cherished ambition upon the altar: an act of unselfish devotion which suggested the sacrifice' of Iphigenia. He allowed the proffered honor of representing Georgia in the United States Senate to pass unap propriated. Thereupon the appointment was tendered to Hon. Patrick Walsh, and the Legislature, which met in the winter following, confirmed the. appointment of Mr. "Walsh for the unexpired term and for the long term gave the vacant seat to Mr. Bacon. However, the people of Georgia were bent upon rewarding the faith ful servant, and on the resignation of Senator Gordon in 1896 he was overtured to enter the race. Being no longer bound by the obligations of the speakership, he took the field; but he insisted upon going directly before the people, in order that no mistake might be made in ascertaining the popular preference. It was the time when free silver and sound money were the differentiating terms which divided the democratic hosts, and feeling throughout the state ran high. Several joint debates between Speaker Crisp and Hon. Hoke Smith enlivened the campaign. Mr. Smith, who was then secretary of the. interior in President Cleveland's GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1479 Cabinet, took the sound-money .side, while Speaker Crisp took the freesilver side, and the discussions which followed were worthy of the best days of the hustings in Georgia. Mr. Smith was not an avowed candidate for the senatorial toga and merely sought to bring Georgia to the sup port of the administration upon the financial question. But Georgia was partial to the plume of William J. Bryan. She preferred free silver, and when the sentiment of the state upon the monetary problem was registered Mr. Smith withdrew from the Cabinet to give his vote to the democratic nominee. In the ballots which were cast for Mr. Crisp the lines between the opposing factions were very loosely drawn, and he received the support of many who differed with him upon the financial policy of the Government, but who admired his character and desired to recompense his patriotic unselfishness. County after county endorsed him for the senatorial seat until the whole state became an enthusiastic herald in acclaiming him the choice of the people of Georgia for the office to which he aspired. But the days of Mr. Crisp were numbered. Throughout the campaign the pallor of disease had been slowly deepen ing and, exactly one week before the Legislature assembled to ratify the action of the people expressed at the polls, death intervened, substituting the celestial for the senatorial bays and adding the eternal to the temporal reward. The cause of Mr. Crisp's death was heart trouble, from which he suf fered at times the most acute paroxysms of pain. He died on October 23, 1896, at Doctor Holmes' Sanitarium in Atlanta, whither he was com pelled to betake himself amid the excitements of the campaign. He was succeeded in the House by his gifted son, Hon. Charles R. Crisp, the present judge of the city court of Americus, while Hon. Alexander Stephens Clay fell heir to the senatorial toga. Though it was little suspected at the time by the enthusiastic multi tudes who witnessed the famous joint debates, Mr. Crisp was an intense sufferer throughout the entire canvass, and it was sheer will power alone which kept him upon his feet. The writer well remembers the attack which he sustained at Albany immediately after the discussion, which took place under the old chautauqua tent, was concluded. The speech was one of Mr. Crisp's best. Despite an air of weariness which he wore upon the platform, he spoke with great vigor and with marvelous effect, calling forth round after round of applause from the delighted audience; but on returning to the home at which he was stopping he was seized with an attack of his old malady, which made it necessary to send for the doctor post haste. Yet he recovered only to renew immediately the active work of the canvass; and few surmised .the real nature of the trouble which was destined eventually to end his brave life. Indeed, when later on he was compelled to abandon public speaking, thousands were surprised and some few partisan critics ventured to suggest that he was actuated by the apprehension of defeat.' But the gallant foeman who had received and returned his fire upon the hustings was prompt to rebuke the mistaken surmise. He may not have been aware of the deadly inroads which the malady was making but he recognized the Spartan virtues of his antagonist. Mr. Crisp's last speech was made at Rome. Congressman John W. 1480 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS Maddox, who was to introduce him to the audience, called at the hotel an hour in advance of the appointed time to consult the speaker's wishes, and much to his surprise he found him writhing in pain. As soon as the paroxysm had partially passed, he urged him in justice to himself to cancel the engagement, since he was in no physical condition to speak. But Mr. Crisp protested. "No," said he, "I shall soon be better. The speaking has been an nounced and the people expect to hear me. I am ready to accompany you to the platform." Knowing how weak he was, Judge Maddox says that he expected to see him fall at any moment. '' But,'' added the ex-congressman,'' he held the audience spellbound for more than an hour and he made an argument which for vigor of thought could hardly have^ been surpassed." Still , Judge Maddox entreated him to make no more speeches during the can vass, and to this earnest exhortation he finally yielded. Time went on. At last the feverish mid-summer heat died out of the air and the cool days began to come; but, when the song of the reapers was lifted in the harvest fields, there flashed in the mellow sunlight another scythe, and the pale invalid saw the bright tints creep for the last time over the autumnal forest. On the eve of the assembling of the Legislature he realized with pathetic satisfaction that he was the choice of the people of Georgia for the coveted seat in the American Senate; but, like the old Hebrew prophet on the heights of Nebo, he only surveyed the land which he was destined never to enter. It may have been something better upon which his eyes were to feast. At any rate, the journey was over, and, in the sweet phrase of the English laureate, "God's finger touched him and he slept." PART II GEORGIA IN THE FORUM OF ELOQUENCE GEORGIA IN THE FORUM OP ELOQUENCE THOMAS R. R. COBB : IN ADVOCACY OP SECESSION [This is the full text of what was probably the most powerful speech made in favor of Georgia's withdrawal from the Union. It was deliv ered before the General Assembly, at Milledgeville, Georgia, on the eve ning of Monday, November 12, 1860. Though General Toombs is deserv edly styled the "Mirabeau of Secession," he delivered no single speech the effect of which was more pronounced than Mr. Cobb's. The latter was afterwards a member of the Secession Convention, in which body, according to Mr. Stephens, he turned the scales in favor of secession by contending, in a most persuasive argument, that better terms could be made outside the Union than within. At the outbreak of the war, he organized Cobb 's famous Legion, and fell at the battle of Fredericksburg, while wearing the stars of a brigadier-general. Thomas R. R. Cobb was a distinguished lawyer of Athens, who, in addressing the Legislature 011 this occasion, appeared for the first time in the role of a .political speaker. His impassioned speech, urging immediate and uncon ditional secession, produced a dramatic impression upon the General Assembly and sent a thrill of intense excitement throughout the whole state. It caused some to liken him to Patrick Henry, others to Peter the Hermit. Hitherto preserved only in pamphlet form, it will here be seen by thousands for the first time in print.] Gentlemen : I must return to you my thanks for the courtesy you have extended to me in opening this chamber for my use and in honoring my remarks by your presence. As I do not pretend to be the sagacious politician or the experienced statesman having never, in seventeen years, made a political speech I can attribute this courtesy only to an honest desire on your part to hear what an humble citizen may say at this important crisis in our national affairs. My crude opinions may excite the ridi cule of some and the pity of others, but remember I claim no infalli bility for my head, but simply sincerity for my heart. Those of you who know me, can bear witness that I have never in the slightest degree interfered in past political contests, and hence I have no disappointed 1483 1484 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS ambition to satisfy no personal wrongs to avenge no party animosity to appease. While you and others have been engaged in urging the claims of the respective candidates for the Presidency, who received your suffrages, I have been publishing in northern newspapers, article after article, arguing, reasoning, urging, persuading, yea, begging our northern fellow-citizens not to force upon the South this terrible issue of disunion or dishonor. And, candidly, can I say tonight that I would have illuminated my house with enthusiasm and shouting, had either one of the candidates urged in Georgia been elevated to the Presidential chair. Surely, then, my friends, you can yield me my claim to sincerity of heart. And now I admit allegiance to no party. I propose to serve no party ends. The truth is, there are no parties in Georgia. Heretofore, we have been divided on questions of national, not state, policy, and each of us has claimed before the people, national organizations and a national platform. The election of last week gave to the winds the claims of us all, and democrats and Americans Bell, Douglas, and Breckenridge men have all to confess this night 'that as national organizations we are all powerless, and our national platforms have been with equal scorn rejected. Why cling, then, longer to empty names, the names so pro ductive of discord and hatred. Tonight, let us bury the hatchet of con troversy. The parties are all dead; let them be buried; and with them let us bury all the political and personal animosities which they have engendered, and as brothers, as friends, as Georgia's sons, let us come and take counsel together, how we shall avenge her wrongs, promote her prosperity, and preserve her honor. In times like these, passion should not rule the hour; calm and dis passionate deliberation should be brought to the consideration of every question. Even the quick beating pulsations of hearts burning with a sense of injuries should be commanded to be still, while we survey the past, fully appreciate the present, and peer thoughtfully into the future; avoiding the impetuosity of rashness and the timidity of fears as well, let us invoke all our human wisdom, and light also from on High, to guide us in our decision. But, once decided, let us act, and act like men, men who are determined to do or die. It is not necessary for me, in addressing this audience, to rehearse the history of those acts which have so often stirred up our hearts to mutiny, and mantled our faces with shame. You know them as well as I you have felt them as deeply, too. Nor shall I presume that you are less patriotic, or need my counselling voice to induce you to remem ber your homes or your state. The practical issue before us is the tri umph of the sectional black republican party of the North, and the duty of Georgia in the present emergency. To this I address myself. Is the election of Lincoln a sufficient ground for the dissolution of the Union? This may be viewed both as a legal and as a political question. As a legal question, it resolves itself into this: Has he been elected accord ing to the form and spirit of the Constitution 1? Formally, he has been so elected, when he is so declared by the Congress of the United States. And, literally, he has been so elected, if the states casting their votes for him are entitled to be counted in the electoral college. Nine of these GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1485 states, however, casting a combined vote of eighty-five electors, have by their local legislation nullified a constitutional act of Congress, and refused to comply with the obligations of the compact when the same are distasteful to the prejudices of their people. As a lawyer, I am pre pared to say that parties to such a contract, who have thus violated its provisions when onerous to them, are not entitled to its privileges when demanded by them; and that, so long as the "Personal Liberty Bills" dis grace the statute books of these states, their electoral votes should not be counted in the electoral college. But who shall decide upon this question? The Constitution is silent, no provision having been made for such a contest. The mode of counting the votes is specified, but no power of decision given to either the Senate or the House, or the Gen eral Congress convened. It is an omission in the fundamental law. Who shall decide? The Supreme Court? They have already virtually de clared these acts violative of the Constitution, but our opponents and oppressors "spit upon" such decisions. Shall it be decided by force of arms in Washington City ? Then civil war must begin there, to end only by the subjugation of one section of the Union. No, my friends, in the absence of any tribunal, the right to decide is one of the reserved rights of the states, and Georgia lias the privilege of declaring today that for herself she decides these votes illegal and this election unconstitutional. But, in another view of this question, this man is not chosen as our President. According to the spirit of the Constitution, these states have violated its provisions in this election. First, this Constitution 'Vfas made for white men citizens of the United States; this Union was formed by white men, and for the pro tection and happiness of their race. It is true that the framers gave to each state the power to declare who should be electors at the ballotbox in, each state. But the fair implication was that this right of suf frage should be given to none but citizens of the United States. Can it be supposed that our fathers intended to allow our national elections to be controlled by men who were not citizens under the national Con stitution? Never, never! Yet to elect Abraham Lincoln, the right of suffrage was extended to free negroes in Vermont, Massachusetts, Ohio, New York, and other northern states, although the Supreme Court has declared them not to be citizens of this nation. Yes! Our slaves are first stolen from our midst on underground railroads and then voted at northern ballot-boxes to select rulers for you and me. The memory of our fathers is slandered when this is declared to be according to the Constitution. But, secondly, the spirit of the Constitution has been .violated in another particular in this election. Ours is a republican government, based upon the democratic principle that the majority have a right to rule. That is an anomolous government in history or philosophy, which provides for or allows the permanent administration of its powers in the hands of a popular minority. Surely such is not ours. Yet it is true that, counting the unanimous votes of the Southern States, and the large majorities in the North against the black republicans, a majority amounting to perhaps a million or more votes, has declared against Abraham Lincoln for the next Presidency. Is not this according to the forms of our Constitution ? I may be asked. . I answer, it is. But will 1486 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS my objecting friend answer, is it according to the spirit? I may be told that other chief magistrates have been elected by popular minorities. This I admit, but never against such an overwhelming majority, and never by a sectional party, based upon the prospect and avowal of a continuation of the same result in every future election. The truth is that we have lived to see a state of things never contemplated by the framers of the Constitution. At that time we were all slave-holding states a homogeneous people, having a common origin, common memories, a common cause, common hopes, a common future, a common destiny. The wisdom even of our fathers did not suggest a future when we should be a distinct people, having different social organizations, different pur suits, different memories, different hopes, different destinies. And hence, while the Constitution is full of checks to protect the minority from the sudden and excited power of a majority, no provision was suggested for the protection of the majority from the despotic rule of an infuri ated, fanatical, and sectional minority. The experience of eight years in the presidential chair, and the almost more than human wisdom of Washington gave him a glimpse of the fatal omission thus made in the Constitution, and hence we find in that wonderful document his fare-, well address a note of solemn warning against such a perversion of the Government, by the formation of sectional parties. What was thus dimly foreshadowed in his prophetic ken, is the fact of today and will be the history of tomorrow. Is it not according to the forms of the Con stitution 1 I am asked. I answer it is. But tell me, is it in accordance with the spirit and framework? Third. The preamble to the Constitution of the United States recites the six leading objects for which it was adopted, namely, "to form a more perfect union, establish peace, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity." Had I the time, it would be profitable to take each one of these objects and show how fanaticism had perverted this Government from each and every one of the objects of its organization how "the Union of hearts and hands" which existed prior to the adoption of the Constitution had given way to sectional jealousies and mutual hatred how justice had been denied under the quibbles of executive traitors, outraged both on the bench and in the jury-box how the common defense had been construed into local advantage, and the general welfare been found in the fleecing of our pro ducers for the fattening of their manufacturers. But these results are not specially attributable to the event we now consider the election of Lincoln. Hence I shall call your attention only to two of these objects the insuring of domestic tranquility and the securing of the blessings of liberty. Recur with me to the parting moment when you left your firesides to attend upon your duties at the capitol. Remember the trembling hand of a beloved wife, as she whis pered her fears from the incendiary and the assassin. Recall the look of indefinable dread with which the little daughter inquired when your returning footsteps should be heard. And if there be manhood in you, tell me if this is the domestic tranquility which this glorious Union has achieved? Notice the anxious look when'the traveling peddler lingers too long in conversation at the door with the servant who turns the bolt GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1487 the watchful gaze when the slave tarries long with the wandering artist who professes merely to furnish him with a picture the suspicion aroused by a northern man conversing in private with the most faithful of your negroes, and tell me if peace and tranquility are the heritage which this Union has brought to your firesides. Take up your daily papers, and see the reports of insurrections in every direction. Hear the telegrams read which announce another John Brown raid. Travel on your railroads and hear, as I did this day, that within seven miles of this capitol, a gang of slaves have revolted from their labor, declaring them selves free by virtue of Lincoln's election, and say if such fruits as these grow on the good tree of domestic tranquility. , Mark me, my friends, I have no fea^of any servile insurrection which shall threaten our political existence. Our slaves are the most happy and contented, best fed and best clothed and best paid laboring population in the world, and I would add also, the most faithful and least feared. But a discontented few, here and there, will become the incendiary or the poisoner, when insti gated by the emissaries of northern abolitionists, and you and I cannot say but that your home or your family may be the first to greet your returning footsteps in ashes or in death. What has given impulse to these fears, and aid and comfort to these outbreaks now, but the success of the black republicans the election of Abraham Lincoln! I need hardly consume your time in adverting to the clause as to securing the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. "What liberty have we secured by the Constitution of the United States? Our personal liberty is protected by the broad aegis of Georgia's sovereignty. To her, we never appealed in vain. What liberty does the Union give us? The glorious liberty of being robbed of our property, threatened in our lives, abused and villified in our reputation, on every forum, from the grog-shop to the halls of Congress; libeled in every vile newspaper and in every town meeting; deprived of all voice in the election of our chief magistracy; bound to the car of a fiendish fanaticism, which is daily curtailing every vestige of our privileges, and by art and cunning, under the forms of the Constitution, binding us in a vassalage more base and hopeless than that of the Siberian serf. This is glorious liberty, secured by a glorious Union! And the election of Lincoln by a purely sectional vote, and upon a platform of avowed hostility to our rights and our liberty, is the cap-stone nay, the last Magna Charta securing to us these wonderful privileges. Is not all this according to the forms of the Constitution? I am asked. I answer, it is. But tell me, Union-loving friends, is this its spirit? Fourth. Equality among the states is the fundamental idea of the American Union. Protection to the life, liberty and property of the citizens is the cornerstone and only end of government in the American mind. Look to the party whose triumph is to be consummated in the inauguration of Lincoln. The exclusive enjoyment of all the common territory of the Union is their watchword and party cry. The exclusion of half the states of the Union has been decreed, and we are called upon to record the fiat. Will you do it, men of Georgia? Are you so craven, so soon? But protection whence comes it to us? Dare you to follow your fugitive into a northern state to arrest him? The assassin strikes you 1488 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS down, and no law avenges your blood; your property is stolen every day, and the very attempt to recover it subjects you to the insults of, the North, and the smile of derision at your folly, at home. A province of Great Britain now covers with the protection of her flag millions of dollars of your property and mine. Let a fishing-smack from New Bed ford be taken into a Canadian port, and the cry of British insolence resounds throughout the land. A demand for redress is made, and the threat goes with it to let loose the dogs of war! And yet no administra tion of the Government has ever yet been bold enough even to ask for the restitution of our property. Nay, more, so cowed have we become that no representative from the South has ever even complained of the wrong. But there is something more valuable than property, more dear than life. It is the good name a father bequeathed us, and the inherit ance we hold dearest, to descend to our children. How is it protected? On the floor of Congress we are taunted with our weakness and our cowardice, and all the crimes of the calendar murder, arson, rape, rob bery all compare not in enormity, we are told by our rulers and law makers, with that greatest of all sins, that most horrible of all crimes, the holding of slaves! Where, then, is our protection, and for what owe we allegiance to this Government 1 Georgia extends her sovereign arm over us, and our lives, our liberty, our property and our reputation are safe under her protection. Loyalty and fidelity have reason for their growth and food for their sustenance when we turn to this good old commonwealth. But when we look to this Union oh, tell me why owe we allegiance to it? Long have I loved it. Blindly have I worshiped it. I bade selfishness avaunt, when my heart turned toward the Government of my fathers. I remembered only that it came from the minds and hearts of Washing ton, and Henry, and Adams, and Madison, and Pinckney, and Rutledge. I saw the glories of Bunker Hill and Monmouth and Saratoga and Yorktown, clustering around it. I recalled the story of her struggles as an aged ancestor who bled in her cause recounted it to infant ears around the winter's fire. I remembered a father's instructions, and had wit nessed a father's devotion, and I fell down and worshiped at a shrine where he worshiped before me, and dared not to inquire into the cause of my devotion. But when the cruel hand of northern aggression aroused me from my worship, when it tore away the thin veil which covered the idol before me, I could but weep as the heart-strings were snatched from their attachment, though I woke to discover that I had been bowing before a veiled prophet of Mokannah, whose deformity and ugliness disgusted while they pained me ! Ten years ago, some of you, wiser than I was, warned me of my delu sion, but I clung to my hope, when to you there was none, and tonight I give you the meed of praise for a clearer foresight, and a less blind devotion. But this very fact makes me charitable to them who may still bow at the shrine of the Union. It is almost cruel to dispel their illu sion, but I cannot help feeling that the time must come, and come quickly, when the veiled prophet must say to them as he has said to me: "Ye would be fools, and fools ye are." Time warns me that I cannot pursue this inquiry farther. As a legal question, I am compelled to decide that the election of Lincoln is GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1489 in violation of the spirit of the Constitution of the United States. And am I told that this spirit is too indefinite and shadowy a substance to be made the basis of resistance? And .can there be a Georgian who will never resist so long as the form and letter of the Constitution is not broken? Let us inquire. The interstate slave trade is within the letter of the Constitution. Should Congress abolish it will my objector submit? The amendment of the Constitution itself is within the letter of that instrument. If it is so amended in accordance with its letter as to carry out Lincoln's announcement that the states must be all free,' will my objector submit? Why not? Because these are violative of its spirit. Truly, my friends, in the words of inspiration, "the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.'' To the spirit then we must look, and a violation of that spirit renders this election unconstitutional. I come now to consider this question in its political light, and it rises in importance far above the mere legal question. I must confess that the mere election of a candidate to the Presi dency, in a manner legally unconstitutional, does not in my judgment justify necessarily a dissolution of the Union. The wise man and the statesman, to say nothing of the patriot, will always weigh well whether "it is better to bear the ills we have than fly to others that we know not of." And, hence, arises the political question, does this election justify and require a disruption of the ties which bind us to the Union? As much as I would dislike the triumph of a purely sectional candidate upon a purely sectional platform, I am free to say that I would hesi tate even then to risk the consequences of a dissolution, provided that sectional platform was upon issues not vital in themselves, or were tem porary in their nature. Such would I conceive to be protective tariffs and homestead bills the acquisition of territory peace or war with for eign powers. And if the election of Lincoln, unconstitutional though it may be, were upon a temporary issue, or a question not vital in impor tance, I should hesitate to declare it ground for disunion. But, my countrymen, I cannot so view the triumph of black repub licanism. It is a question vital in itself, and by no means of a tempo rary character. To see it in its breadth and enormity, to see its danger ous proportions and its threatening aspects, it becomes necessary for us to go back a little in history and to trace the slavery agitation as con nected with our Government. Shortly after its organization, we find a petition from the Quakers of Philadelphia asking the abolition of slavery. We see that petition treated by a unanimous Congress as the, mere ebulli tion of religious fanaticism, and as the paper is laid on the table we smile at the folly of the broad-brim followers of Fox. In a few years we find petitions accumulating from other sects and societies, until finally, by an overwhelming majority, we find the House of Representa tives refusing longer to listen to their fanatical ravings, and as the twenty-first rule is adopted, we fondly dreamed that the cockatrice's egg would never be hatched. In a few years we find the floors of Con gress desecrated by the ravings of Giddings and other abolitionists, and, at the same time, in a Presidential contest, an abolition candidate is pre sented to the people of the North. But the abolitionists in Congress are hissed at their ravings, and the miserable handful at the ballot-box only 1490 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS manifested their weakness, and we rested secure in our confidence in the protection of the Constitution. But a few years more found the miserable demagogues and political leaders of the North, in their party excitement, bidding for the abolition vote. Without real sympathy for the movement, we find them vying with each other in pretended zeal, and shortly we find the twenty-first rule falling as a sacrifice before the demands of the fanatics. "We find the parties in power more and more undecided in denouncing the trea son until finally the great whig party fell, demoralized, and, at the North, very much abolitionized. We find church organizations and great benefi cent institutions, one, after another, sundered and divided by the demon, which,, when once aroused, there was no power to allay. We find reason and argument unheeded, the obligations of oaths- and compacts disre garded, the very religion of God desecrated, his Bible denounced, his churches and pulpits polluted, and his children excluded from the com munion table of their Master. And then for the first time we awake to the great fact that our lives and liberty are in jeopardy unless great exertions for our safety are made. In the meantime, our slaves are stolen, the old remedies are proved useless, new provisions are demanded. The postoffices become the vehicles for spreading insurrections, and new restrictions are required. Greater demands are made in Congress and states rejected from the Union because slavery is recognized in their constitutions. Finally the slave trade in the District of Columbia is attacked, and the interstate trade. The Wilmot Proviso is placed on all territory, and the South, aroused to her danger, demands security and peace. We all remember the great compromise measures of 1850. They were declared a finality, and the siren song of peace was sung in our ears. Some of us believed it, ,and we once more laid down in ease. Soon, however, a new question is raised, the monster shows himself again in the halls of Congress, and once more we hear that the Union is saved and peace restored by the provisions of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The other events are known to you. This black republican party is formed; Fremont is its candidate; let us crush it now, and the slavery issue is dead forever. Such was the song. Great exertions are made. Fremont is defeated, and we hope 011 for peace. There seems to be a lull in the storm. One of Georgia's distinguished sons voluntarily terminates his long public career, and as he bids farewell to his constituents he informs us, in a public address, honestly, I have no doubt, that the battle is over, the victory won, that he lays off his armor because there is no other foe to meet, and he shows to our willing ears what great things had been done for us, "whereof we were glad." But hardly had he reached his quiet home, ere the territory of Virginia is invaded by a lawless band under John Brown, and today you find him with his armor again buc kled on, to re-save the Union once more to re-deliver us from the fanat ical devil. And now, after four years of argument and persuasion and entreaty and remonstrance and warning, tonight, my friends, we find this demon master of our stronghold, this party, so long to be destroyed, more rampant and triumphant than ever with almost fabulous majori ties in every northern state placing in the executive chair one of the most fanatical of its leaders. Are we blind that this retrospect will teach us no lesson 1 Read upon the banners of this army, and see what are its objects and aims: "No More Slave States," "The Repeal of the Fugitive GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1491 Slave Law," "Relief from the Slave Power," "The Irresponsible Con flict," "No League with Hell." Look at its leaders and see the heroes who deify John Brown; the mad preachers, like Cheever and Beecher; the Fourier-ites, led by Greeley; the Sewards and Sumners and Hales, and Fred Douglass. Look at its cohorts and see their mottled ranks free negroes and bootblacks, coachmen and domestics, infidels and freelovers, spirit-rappers, and every other shade of mania and folly. Search in vain among them all for one gentleman like Everett, one sound con servative like Fillmore, one bold statesman like Cusing or 0'Connor, one noble patriot like Buchanan, one daring leader like Douglas. Scan closely all its long lists of speakers or voters as far as we can see them, and where is the man you would invite to your table, or with whose arm you would walk through your streets? And yet these are our rulers. To them we are called to submit. Let me rather have a king, for I can respect him; or an emperor, for I can cajole him; or an aristocracy, for they will not envy, and dare not hate me. Nay, let me die before I shall bow to such fanatics as these. The question, then, is vital. Is it temporary? The history of its insignificant rise and rapid progress the little cloud, no bigger than a man's hand, which has now overspread the whole heavens the thunders which we hear too indistinctly to be misunderstood the insolence which even the prospect of power has given to craven cowards that already they taunt us with timidity and threaten us with chastisement aye, a hundred indications too plain to be mistaken, say to everything but stolid ignorance or blind fatuity that this is the beginning of the end. My friends, history and philosophy would have informed us years ago of the same truth, had we listened to their teachings. Fanaticism is madness, is insanity. It has a zeal laudable in its earnestness, admirable in its honesty. Its error is in the false. foundation on which it builds. Its danger lies in the depth of its convictions, which will not allow it to attend to reason, but makes it as the deaf adder "which will not listen to the charmers, charming never so wisely." Its fountain lies deep in the human heart. Its bonds are interwoven with many of the noblest principles of our nature. Hence it ignores consequences, it overrides obstacles, it ruthlessly sunders the dearest ties of the heart, it takes affection from the lover, yea, it steels the mother against her own off spring, the creature against his God. We call it blind because it cannot see; we call it deaf because it cannot hear; we call it foolish, because it cannot reason; we call it cruel because it cannot feel. By what channel, then, can you reach its citadels? Firmly planted therein, with every avenue closed to ingress, and yet every door of evil influence open to the bitter issues which flow without, the deluded victim glories in his own shame, and scatters ruin and destruction in the mad dream that he is doing God's service. Such-is the teaching of philosophy; and hjstory, her handmaid, confirms the truth. The bloody minds of those who, with sinful hands, murdered the Lord of Glory, were never sated until the Roman legions sacked the city of David, and the eagle of Rome floated over the ruins of the temple. The fires of Smithfield never ceased to burn until the maiden queen, with her strong arm and stronger will, sealed in the blood of Mary the covenant of peace to the church. The wheels of the Juggernaut never failed to crush the bones of infatuated 1492 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS victims until the shaggy mane of the British lion was drenched in the blood of oriental imbecility. The bloody crescent of the false prophet never ceased to behold the gory victims which Islam claimed until, on many a battlefield, the redemption in blood came to rescue the children of Faith. The Ganges bore in its turbid waters the innocent victims of the delusion of mothers until Britain assumed the position which God held to Abraham on the Mount, and, staying the murderous arms, bade the well-spring of a mother's love once more to gush from a mother's heart. Why should I continue the review? All history speaks but one voice. Tell me when and where the craving appetite of fanaticism was ever gorged with victims; when and where its bloody hands were ever stayed by the consciousness of satiety; when and where its deaf ears ever listened to reason; or argument, or persuasion; when or where it ever died from fatigue or yielded except in blood? And when you have done this, you may then convince me that this is a temporary triumph, and bid me hope on. Till you do this, I must listen to the teachings of rea son, philosophy and history, and believe that Lincoln and Seward spoke the truth when they said this contest is never ended until all the states are either free or slave. Mark me, my friends, the only tie which binds together this party at the North is the slavery issue. Bank and anti-bank, protection and free trade, old whig and old democrat have all come together. The old issues are ignored, forgotten. Abolitionism and agrarianism are the only spe cialties in their platform. This Aaron's rod has swallowed up all the others, and upon it alone has the battle been fought and the victory won. And no man and no party can make terms or obtain quarter from these fanatics, except by bowing down and worshiping this Moloch. Even in this election, have not southern parties offered candidates on every shade of opinion to this northern horde, and have they not all .been rejected with scorn? Did not Bell and Douglas and Breckenridge, one or the other, agree with them on every question, except slavery? Why were they rejected? Herculean efforts have been made. Arguments and elo quence have been offered lavishly, and money almost as lavishly, to bid off and buy up this motley crew. Scorn, contempt, insolence, and con tumely have been the only answer we have received. Can any man shut his eyes and still cry the siren song: "Hope on! Hope on!" We have seen, then, that this election is legally unconstitutional and that politically the issue on which it is unconstitutional is both vital in its importance and permanent in its effects. What, then, is our remedy? Shall it be the boy's redress of recrimination, the bully's redress of brag gadocio or boasting, or the manly freeman's redress of independence. This is a most solemn question, and no man should rashly advise his countrymen at such a time. For myself, for months, nay, years, I have foreseen this coming cloud. I have given it all of the study of which my mind is possessed. I have called my heart into the council and lis tened to its teachings. Nay, more, my friends. I fear not to say that I have gone to the God I worship and begged him to advise me. On the night of the sixth of November I called my wife and little ones together around my family altar, and together we prayed to God to stay the wrath of our oppressors, and preserve the Union of our fathers. The rising sun of the seventh of November found me on my knees, begging GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1493 the same kind Father to make that wrath to praise Him, and the remain der of wrath to restrain. I believe that the hearts of men are in His hands, and when the telegraph anncranced to me that the voice of the North proclaimed at the ballot-box that I should be a slave, I heard in the same sound the voice of my God speaking through his Providence, and saying to his child, "Be free! Be free!" Marvel not then that I say my voice is for immediate, unconditional secession. The suggestion for delay comes from various quarters: Good men and true men hesitate as to the time. Their counsel deserves attention. Their very doubts are entitled to consideration. Let me then trespass a little longer on your time to answer the question, Shall we delay ? "What are their hopes, and on what are they based ? I have shown that we cannot expect this fanatical spirit to die or to be appeased. What, then, shall we look for? From one I hear the suggestion that Lincoln may betray his party and, like Fillmore, prove to be a conserva tive. Oh, shame, shame, shame! Is it come to this, that the only hope of Georgia is in the treason of an abolitionist? False to his friends, can you trust him 1 False to his friends, can you reward him ? Can even the consolations of conscience be held out as an inducement to a perjured traitor ? But suppose he did prove traitor, what then 1 "Would not these bloodhounds seek in Seward, or Sumner, or Hale, a less scrupulous and more faithful servant? And would not the very mortification of dis appointment only whet more keenly their appetite for blood? From another I hear the suggestion that the Senate can refuse to ratify his appointments, and thus he will be without a cabinet and without an administration. What is this, my friends, but revolution and anarchy? We destroy one Government without providing another. And more, and worse, we reqiiire our senators to disregard their oaths to the Constitu tion, and while within the temple to pull down its pillars. True, like Samson, they may destroy the Philistines, but, like Samson, too, we shall share their fate. Better far, peaceably to withdraw, and let their God smile on them with prosperity, if he wills it, while our God shall bless us who, doing no man harm, seek only to worship in our own holy hill. From another I hear that we have both houses of Congress, and hence Lincoln is powerless. How blindly mistaken! The executive branch of the Government alone can protect us. The President alone can call out the army and navy. The President only can appoint commissioners and marshals and judges to execute the fugitive slave law. The President only can protect us from armed invasions and secret incendiaries. I admit that it is so feeble that we can hope but little from it, even with a friend as President with a foe, what can we hope? But, I am told, suppose Lincoln, in his inaugural, pledges himself to carry out these laws. I would not believe him on his oath. Let them who can trust a black republican abolitionist hug to their bosom the fatal delusion that we can hope for sweet waters from such a poisoned fountain. Moreover, why wait for two years when at their close we hope for nothing? Will our hearts become braver by submitting to this rule? Will our arms become stronger from the paralysis of shame? Will our people be more unanimous when party spirit has enchained them by its bonds? The restive bullock chafes when the tender skin first feels the heavy yoke, Vol. Ill--15 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS but a few days hardens the neck, and the sober, patient ox receives uncomplainingly the lash and the goad as well as the yoke. Two years of shame may crush out mountains of patriotism. No man dares say now I love this Union for its blessings. Today, if the question were sub mitted to Georgia independent shall we go into this Union ? ten voters could not be found who would choose such a league with death. Why should ten be found who would choose to continue this league? Ah! the cry of "Union" has been a tower of strength, and I fear that some, yes, many, fearing the effect on the people, will still stand by the watch word after the citadel is in ashes. But, gentlemen, such leaders do injus tice to our people. They were loyal to their Government while it was their Government. When it became the mere tool of their enemies, they will spurn it with a unanimity which will overwhelm their slanderers. None of these arguments or suggestions carry conviction to my mind. While hope of better things lived, I could be patient and hope on; but when hope died, darkness came, and the only gleam of light on the dark horizon which meets my eye is from Georgia's star independent and if necessary alone. But we shall not be alone. Our sister on the east holds out imploring hands to welcome us in our march. Our daughters on the west Alabama and Mississippi wait only for their mother to speak. Our neighbor on the south, to whom just now we are generously yielding a portion of our territory, begs for our counsel and our lead. Georgia, empire state as she is and deserves to be, must be no laggard in the race. The head of the column is her birthright and her due. To the column's head let us march! My friends, there is danger in delay. The North, flushed with vic tory, construes and will construe every indication of hesitancy into a dastardly fear every voice for delay into the quakings of cowardice. The stern, unyielding look of the brave man makes the snarling cur sneak back to his kennel, but let the cheek blanch before the foe, and the lips quiver, and the knees shake, and do you wonder when you do stand your ground that the miserable cur is biting at your heels? Delay, therefore, invites aggression and destroys all confidence in our courage. Let Georgia speak now and a northern regiment will never cross the border line. Let Georgia delay and they will make scourges to whip the cowards to obedience. Delay is dangerous, because now we have at the North a respectable body of men who sympathize with us in our oppression and will not aid the oppressor. They are melting away like frost-work before the burning zeal of this fanatical sun, and ere long their own thinned ranks and their inevitable contempt for our timidity will render them powerless as a barrier to northern aggression. Delay is dangerous because now the army and navy are in the hands of an administration that recog nizes our right to withdraw. On the fourth day of March next the pow erful arm of the executive will be wielded by a foe as unrelenting as he is cruel. Delay is dangerous, because it demoralizes our position takes away from our cause its justice in the eyes of the world, enervates the arms that are now ready to rise in our defense, and chills the hearts that are now burning with patriotic zeal. ' Delay is dangerous, because it keeps open our territory to the emissaries of the North, teaches us to GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1495 weigh our honor in the scales of self-interest, and drives back to die the warm outgushing feelings of wounded hearts. Shall I be told that the country is prosperous, that the crops are good, that money is plenty, and the 'people feel not the iron heel of the oppressor? I will not answer by predicting a financial crisis, and ruin and distress and the crush of hard times upon us. I will not allude to the difficulties already felt in financial circles, and the distrust which, like the barometer, ever indicates the coming storm. No, I have more confidence than you, my objector, in the people's wisdom. Behold on yonder ocean the leaking vessel. See the indications of her fate in the gradual, slow but sure rising of the water on her bows. On the upper, aye, the upper deck, behold the gay party basking in the warm sun shine and rejoicing in the gentle breeze. Do you tell me, when I warn them of their danger, and point them to the approaching billows, they will answer that they cannot move because the sunlight of heaven is bright around them and the zephyr fans sweetly their wearied limbs? No, never! They will weigh my evidence, they will examine into the hold, they will act as wise men before they are engulfed in the sea. Fear not the people! The coward may quake a few luxuriating in their ease may shut their eyes to their danger many may be deceived, but the great heart of this great people will respond to the voice of reason, to the call of patriotism. Shall I be told to wait for an overt act? "What act do you expect? What act will be overt ? Are not the nullifying personal liberty bills of nine states overt? Are not the daily thefts of our negroes by under ground railroads overt? Are not the national thefts of our national territory overt? Was not the John Brown raid, invading the territory of the South, overt? Is not the election of these sectional candidates over a broken Constitution overt? What is the overt act you wish? Does any man expect these wily, crafty lyers-in-wait to declare the Con stitution a nullity, or to march with bold tread over its fragments? They can bind us hand and foot, and sell us into slavery, and never commit such an overt act, and every statesman in the country can ex plain to you the process. Shall I be told that the present is an abstrac tion and not a practical issue ? The man who urges that would be hard to convince that the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia is; not an abstraction, because there are very few slaves there. Would henot ask you, Will you destroy this "glorious Union" for that small patch of ground ? Is not the repeal of the fugitive slave law an. abstraction,, because we all know that even now it is almost a dead letter. And would! not the objector again sing pasans to this Union? The Wilmot Proviso* is an abstraction, because climate and the laws of God have forbidden the negro to leave the warm sun of the South. Oh! where is the overt act for which you are asked to delay ? I can imagine nothing else thani the assassin's knife at your throat and the incendiary's torch under your' dwelling. My friends, delay is dangerous, for ere long you will beimprisoned by walls of free states all around you. Your increasingslaves drive out the only race that can move the whites and the mas ters who still cling to their fathers' graves will, like a scorpion in a ringof fire, but sting themselves to die. This is your destiny in the Union. Out of it, you have a glorious soil, immense natural resources; cotton,, 1496 GEOBGIA AND GEOEGIANS the great peacemaker of the world; the best social and political organi zation on earth a people firm, free and independent the smile of the God.we worship illuminating our path, and the voice of that God say ing, "Occupy till I come." Biu\the last and most potent argument to my mind in favor of imme diate action, is, that by it alone ca-n we preserve peace. I think I have shown that we have no danger to fear from servile insurrection, nor from northern bayonets. "Whence, then, is the danger? At home, among ourselves, with Georgia as the theater, and our brethren as the victims. Suppose 'we are equally divided. A small majority will decide the question. As good citizens we ought to submit. I should surely so counsel all my fellow citizens. But you know, and I know, that there are zealous, warm spirits, who would rather grace a traitor's gallows than wear the badge of a slave. Collisions between them and the General Government are almost inevitable. What then ? Will this arm be raised to strike them down. ? Never, no never! Will you stand by and see them gibbeted on Federal bayonets, or sentenced by Federal courts? I have spoken for myself; answer now for yourselves. When the dogs of war first lap the blood of freemen, what will be the consequences? 1 think -I see in the future a gory head rise above our horizon. Its name is Civil war. Already I can see the prints of his bloody fingers upon our lintels and doorposts. The vision sickens me already, and I turn your view away. Oh! Georgians, avert from your state this bloody scourge. Surely your love of the Union is not so great but that you can offer it on the altar of fraternal peace. Come then, legislators, selected as you are to represent the wisdom and intelligence of Georgia; wait not till the grog-shops and cross-roads shall send up a discordant voice from a divided people, but act as leaders, in guiding and forming public opinion. Speak no uncertain words, but let your united voice go forth to be resounded from every mountain top and echoed from every gaping valley; let it be written in the rainbow which spans our falls, and read in the crest of -every wave upon our ocean shores, until it shall put a tongue in every bleeding wound of Georgia's mangled honor which shall 'cry to Heaven for "Liberty or Death!" ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS: IN OPPOSITION TO SECESSION [This great speech was delivered before the Legislature of Georgia, then in session at Milledgeville, on the evening of November 14, 1860. In the light of subsequent events, it was a marvel of prophetic wisdom, verified in almost every essential particular. Mr. Stephens, without denying the right of secession, or the propriety of its exercise as a rem edy of last resort, sought to calm the angry passions which were fast rising in Georgia, by urging upon the Legislature the prudent counsels of con servatism; he sought to avoid anything like precipitate or hasty action; and consequently advocated the calling of a state convention to which all matters touching upon Federal relations should be referred. Not withstanding his pronounced views on the subject of secession and his ardent Union sentiments, Mr. Stephens was subsequently chosen vice president of the Confederate States. This was 110 less a tribute to his wise and safe leadership than a well-considered strategic move, the object GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1497 of which was to conciliate the conservative element. Mr. Toombs, who sat in the audience, was a most intent listener to this speech, having himself addressed the Legislature on the evening previous. As will be seen from what follows, he frequently interrupted the speaker. Mr. Ste phens said:] Fellow Citizens: I appear before you tonight at the request of mem bers of the Legislature, and others, to speak of matters of the deepest interest that can possibly concern us all, of an earthly character. There is nothing, no question or subject connected with this life, that concerns a free people so intimately as that of the Government under which they live. We are now, indeed, surrounded by evils. Never since I entered upon the public stage has the country been so environed with difficulties and dangers that threatened the public peace and the very existence of society as now. I do not appear before you at my own instance. It is not to gratify any desire of my own that I am here. Had I consulted my own ease and pleasure, I should not be before you; but, believing it to be the duty of every good citizens, when called upon, to give his counsels and views, whenever the country is in danger, as to the best policy to be pursued, I am here. For these reasons, and these only, do I bespeak a cairn, patient, and attentive hearing. My object is not to stir up strife, but to allay it; not to appeal to your passions, but to your reason. Good governments can never be built up or sustained by the impulse of passion. I wish to address myself to your good sense, to your good judgment, and if, after hearing, you disagree, let us agree to disagree, and part as we met, friends. We all have the same object, the same interest. That people should disagree in republican governments upon questions of public policy is natural. That men should disagree upon all matters connected with human in vestigation, whether relating to science or human conduct, is natural. Hence, in free governments, parties will arise. But a free people should express their different opinions with liberality and charity, with no acri mony toward those of their fellows, when honestly and sincerely given. These are my feelings tonight. Let.us therefore reason together. It is not my purpose to say aught to wound the feelings of any individual who may be present; and if, in the ardency with which I shall express my opinions, I shall say anything which may be deemed too strong, let it be set down to the zeal with which I advocate my own convictions. There is with me no intention to irritate or offend. Fellow citizens, we are all launched in the -same bark; we are all in the same craft, on the wide political ocean; and the same destiny awaits us all, for weal or for woe. We have been launched in the good old ship that has been upon the waves for three-quarters of a century, which has been in many'tempests and storms, which has often been in peril; and patriots have often feared that they should have to give it up, yea, have at times almost given it up; but still the gallant ship is afloat. Though new storms now howl around us, and the tempest beats heavily against us, don't give up the ship don't abandon her yet. If she can possibly be preserved, and our rights, interests, and security be maintained, the object is worth the effort. Let us not, on account of disappointment and chagrin at the reverse of an election, give up all as lost; but let us 1498 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS see what can be done to'prevent a wreck. [Some one said, "The ship has holes in her."] Aye, there may be leaks in her, but let us stop them if we can; many a stout old ship has been saved with richest cargo, after many leaks; and it may be so now. I do not, on this occasion, intend to enter into the history of the reasons or causes of the embarrassments which press so heavily upon us all at one time. In justice to myself, however, I must barely state upon this point that I do think much of it depended upon ourselves. The consternation that has come upon the people is the result of a sectional election of a President of the United States, one whose opinions and avowed principles are in antagonism to our interests and rights, and, we believe, if carried out would subvert the Constitution under which we now live. But are we entirely blameless in this matter, my country men ? I give it to you as my opinion, that but for the policy the southern people pursued, this fearful result would not have occurred. Mr. Lincoln has been elected, I doubt not, by a minority of the people of the United States. What will be the extent of that minority we do not yet know, but the disclosures, when made, will show, I think, that a majority of the constitutional, conservative voters of the country were against him; and had the South stood firmly in the convention at Charleston, on her old platform of principles of non-intervention, there is in my mind but little doubt that whoever might have been the candidate of the national democratic party would have been elected by as large a majority as that which elected Mr. Buchanan or Mr. Pierce. Therefore, let us not be hasty or rash in our action, especially if the result is to be attributed at all to ourselves. Before looking to extreme measures, let us first see, as Georgians, that everything which can be done to preserve our rights, our interests, and our honor, as well as the peace of the country in the Union, be first done. The first question to present itself is, shall the people of the South secede from the Union in consequence of the election of Mr. Lincoln to the presidency of the United States? My friends, I tell you frankly, candidly, and earnestly that I do not think they ought. In my judgment, the election of no man, constitutionally chosen to that high office, is suf ficient cause for any state to separate from the Union. It ought to stand by and aid still in maintaining the Constitution of the country. To make a point of resistance to the Government, to withdraw from it because a man has been constitutionally elected, puts us in the wrong. "We are pledged to maintain the Constitution. Many of us have sworn to supportit. Can we, therefore, for the mere election of a man to the presidency, and that, too, in accordance with the prescribed forms of the Constitu tion, make a point of resistance to the Government, without becoming the breakers of that sacred instrument ourselves, by withdrawing our selves from it? Would we not be in the wrong? Whatever fate is to befall this country, let it never be laid to the charge of the people of the South, and especially to the people of Georgia, that we were untrue to our national engagements. Let the fault and the wrong rest upon others. If all our hopes are to be blasted, if the Republic is to go down, let us be found to the last moment standing on the deck, with the Con stitution of the United States waving above our heads. Let the fanatics of the North break the Constitution, if such is their fell purpose. Let GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1499 the responsibility be upon them. I shall speak presently more of their acts; but let not the South, let us not be the ones to commit the aggres sion. We went into the election with this people. The result was dif ferent from what we wished; but the election has been constitutionally held. Were we to make a point of resistance to the Government and go out of the Union on that account, the record would be made up hereafter against us. But Mr. Lincoln's policy and principles it is said are against the Constitution, and that, if he carries them out, it will be destructive of our rights. Let us not anticipate a threatened evil. If lie violates the Constitution, then it will come our time to act. Do not let us break it because, forsooth, he may. If he does, that is the time for us to strike. I think it would be injudicious and unwise to do this sooner. I do not anticipate that Mr. Lincoln will do anything to jeopardize our safety or security, whatever may be his spirit to do it; for he is bound by the constitutional checks which are thrown around him, which at this time render him powerless to do any great mischief. This shows the wisdom of our system. The President of the United States is no emperor, no dictator; he is clothed with no absolute power. He can do nothing unless he is backed by power in Congress. The House of Representatives is largely in a majority against him. In the very face and teeth of the heavy majority which he has obtained in the Northern States, there have been large gains in the House of Representatives to the conservative constitutional party of the country, which I will here call the national democratic party, because that is the cognomen it has at the North. There are twelve of this party elected from New York to the next Con gress, I believe. In the present House there are but four, I think. In Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, and Indiana there have been gains. In the present Congress there are 113 republicans, when it takes 117 to make a majority. The gains in the democratic party in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, New York, Indiana, and other states, notwithstand ing its distractions, have been enough to make a majority of nearly thirty in the next House against Mr. Lincoln. Even in 'Boston, Mr. Burlingame, one of the noted leaders of the fanatics of that section, has been defeated, and a conservative man returned iii his stead. Is thisthe time, then, to apprehend that Mr. Lincoln, with this large majority in the House of Representatives against him, can.carry out any of his unconstitutional principles in that body? In the Senate he will also be powerless. There will be a majority of four against him. This, after the loss of Bigler, Fitch, and others, by the unfortunate dissensions of the national democratic party in their states. Mr. Lincoln cannot appoint an officer without the consent of the Senate he cannot form a cabinet without the same consent. He will be in the condition of George III, the embodiment of toryism, who had to ask the whigs to appoint his ministers, and was compelled to receive a cabinet utterly opposed to his views; and so Mr. Lincoln will be compelled to ask of the Senate to choose for him a cabinet, if the democ racy of that party chose to put him on such terms. He will be compelled to do this, or let the Government stop, if the national democratic men for that is their name at the North the conservative men of the Senate, shall so determine. Then how can Mr. Lincoln obtain a cabinet which 1500 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS would aid him or allow him to violate the Constitution? Why then, I say, should we disrupt the ties of this Union when his hands are tied when he can do nothing against us? I have heard it mooted that no man in the State of Georgia, who is true to her interests, could hold office under Mr. Lincoln. But, I ask, who appoints to office? Not the President alone; the Senate has to concur. No man can be appointed without the consent of the Senate. Should any man, then, refuse to hold an office that was given him by a .democratic Senate ? [Mr. Toombs interrupted the speaker by saying that if the Senate was democratic, it was for Breckinridge.] Well, then [continued Mr. Stephens], I apprehend no man could be justly considered untrue to the interests of Georgia, or incur any dis grace, if the interests of Georgia required it, to hold an office which a Breckinridge Senate had given him, even though Lincoln should be President. [Prolonged applause, mingled with interruptions.] I trust, my countrymen, you will be still and silent. I am addressing your good sense. I am giving you my views in a calm, dispassionate manner, and if any of you differ Math me, you can, on some other occasion, give your ' views, as I am doing now, and let reason and true patriotism decide between us. In my judgment, I say, under such circumstances, there could be no possible disgrace for a southern man to hold office. The Senate will suffer no man to be appointed, I am sure, who is not true to the Constitution, if southern senators are true to their trust, as I cannot permit myself to doubt that they will be. My honorable friend who addressed you last night [Mr. Toombs], and to whom I listened with the profoundest attention, asks if we would submit to black republican rule. I say to you and to him, as a Georgian, I never would submit to any black republican aggression upon our con stitutional rights. I will never consent myself, as much as I admire this Union, for the glories of the past or the blessings of the present; as much as it has done for civilization; as much as the hopes of the world hang upon it; I would never submit to aggression upon my rights to maintain it longer; and if my rights cannot be maintained in the Union, standing on the Georgia platform, where I have stood from the time of its adoption, I would be in favor of disrupting every tie which binds the states together. I will have equality for Georgia, and for the citizens of Georgia, in this Union, or I will look for new safeguards elsewhere. This is my position. The only question now is, can this be secured in the Union ? That is what I am counselling with you tonight about. Can it be secured ? In my judgment, it may be, but it may not be; but let us do all we can, so that in the future, if the worst comes, it may never be said that we were negligent in doing our duty to the last. My countrymen, I am not one of those who believe this Union has been a curse up to this time. True men, men of integrity, entertain different views from me on this subject. I do not question their right to do so; I would not impugn their motives in so doing. Nor will I undertake to say that this Government of our fathers is perfect. There is nothing in this world perfect, of human origin; nothing connected with human nature, from man himself to any of his works. You may select the wisest and best men for your judges, and yet how many defects are there in the administration of justice ? You may select the wisest and GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1501 best men for your legislators, and yet how many defects are apparent in your laws? But that this Government of our fathers, with all its defects, comes nearer the objects of all good government than any other on the face of the earth, is my settled conviction. Contrast it now with any on the face of the earth. ("England," suggested Mr. Toombs.] England, my friend says. Well, that is the next best, I grant; but I think we have improved upon England. Statesmen tried their appren tice hand on the government of England, and then ours was made. Ours springs from that, avoiding many of its defects, taking most of the good, and leaving out many of its errors, and from the whole our fathers con structed and built up this model republic the best which the history of the world gives any account of. Compare, my friends, this Govern ment with that of France, Spain, Mexico, the South American republics, Germany, Ireland are there any sons of that downtrodden nation here tonight? Prussia, and if you travel further east, to Turkey or China. Where will you go, following the sun in its circuit round our globe, to find a government that better protects the liberties of its people, and secures to them the blessings we enjoy! I think that one of the evils that beset us is a surfeit of liberty, an exuberance of the priceless bless ings for which we are ungrateful. We listened to our honorable friend who addressed you last night [Mr. Toombs] as he recounted the evils of this Government. The first was the fishing bounties paid mostly to the sailors of New England. Our friend stated that forty-eight years of our Government was under the administration of southern presidents. Well, these fishing bounties began under the rule of a southern president, I believe. No one of them during the whole forty-eight years ever set his administration against the principle or the policy of them. It is not for me to say whether it was a wise policy in the beginning; it probably was not, and I have nothing to say in its defense. But the reason given for it was to encourage our young men to go to sea, and learn to manage ships. We had at the time but a small navy. It was thought best to encourage a class of our people to become acquainted with sea-faring life, to become sailors, to man our naval ships. It requires practice to walk the deck of a ship, to pull the ropes, to furl the sails, to go aloft, to climb the mast; and it was thought by offering this bounty that a nursery might be formed in which young men would be perfected in these arts, and it applie'd to one section of the country as well as to any other. The result of this- was that in the War of 1812 our sailors, many of whom came from this nursery, were equal to any that England brought against us. At any rate, no small part of the glories of that war were gained by the veteran tars of America, and the object of these bounties was to foster that branch of the national defense. My opinion is that, whatever may have been the reason at first, this bounty ought to be dis continued the reason for it at first no longer exists. A bill for this purpose did pass the Senate, during the last Congress I was in, to which my honorable friend contributed greatly, but it was not reached in the Plouse of Representatives. I trust that we will yet see that he may with honor continue his connection with the Government, and that his elo quence, unrivalled in the Senate, may hereafter, as heretofore, be dis- 1502 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS played in having this bounty, so obnoxious to him, repealed and wiped off from the statute book. The next evil that my friend complained of was the tariff. Well, let us look at that for a moment. About the time I commenced noticing public matters, this question was agitating the country almost as fear fully as the slave question now is. In 1832, when I was in college, South Carolina was ready to nullify or secede from the Union on this account. And what have we seen? The tariff no longer distracts the public coun cils. Reason has triumphed. The present tariff was voted for by Massachusetts and South Carolina. The lion and the lamb lay down together every man in the Senate and House from Massachusetts and South Carolina, I think, voted for it, as did my honorable friend him self. And, if it be true, to use the figure of speech of my honorable friend, that every man in the North, who works in iron and brass and wood, has his muscles strengthened by the protection of the Government, that stimulant was given by his vote, and, I believe, by the vote of every other southern man. So we ought not to complain of that. [Mr. Toombs: "That tariff lessened duties."] Yes, and Massachusetts, with unanimity, voted with the South to lessen them, and they were made just as low as southern men asked them to be, and those are the rates they are now at. If reason and argu ment, with experience, produced such changes in the sentiments of Massachusetts from 1832 to 1857, on the subject of the tariff, may not like changes be effected there by the same means, reason and argument, and appeals to patriotism, on the present vexed question 1 And who can say that by 1875 or 1890 Massachusetts may not vote with South Carolina and Georgia upon all those questions which now distract the country and threaten its peace and existence? I believe in the power and efficiency of truth, in the omnipotence of truth, and its ultimate triumph when properly wielded. Another matter of grievance alluded to by my honorable friend was the navigation laws. This policy was also commenced under the admin istration of one of these southern presidents, who ruled so well, and has been continued through all of them since. The gentleman's views with respect to the policy of these laws and my own do not disagree. We occupied the same ground in relation to them in Congress. It is not my purpose to defend them now. But it is proper to state some matters connected with their origin. One of the objects was to build up a com mercial American marine by giving American bottoms the exclusive carrying trade between our own ports. This is a great arm of national power. This object was accomplished. We have now an amount of shipping not only coast-wise but to foreign ports which puts us in the front rank of the nations of the world. England can no longer be styled the mistress of the seas. What American is not proud of the result? Whether those laws should be continued is another question. But one thing is certain, no President, northern or southern, has ever yet recom mended their repeal; and my friend's effort to get them repealed has met with but little favor, North or South. These, then, were the three grievances or grounds of complaint against the general system of our Government, and its workings; I mean the administration of the Federal Government. As to the acts of several of GEORGIA AND GEOEGIANS 1503 the states, I shall speak presently, but these three were the main ones urged against the common head. Now, suppose it be admitted that all of these are evils in the system do they overbalance and outweigh the advantages and great good which this same Government affords in a thousand ways that cannot be estimated ? Have we not at the South, as well as the North, grown great, prosperous and happy under its opera tion ? Has any part of the world ever shown such rapid progress in the development of wealth and all the material resources of national power and greatness, as the Southern States have, under the general Govern ment, notwithstanding its defects. [Mr. Toombs: '' In spite of it."] My honorable friend says we have, in spite of the general Govern ment ; that without it I suppose he thinks we might have done as well or perhaps better than we have done. This grand result is in spite of the Government. That may be, and it may not be, but the great fact that we have grown great and powerful under the Government as it exists is admitted. There is no conjecture or speculation about that; it stands out, bold, high, and prominent, like your own Stone Mountain, to which the gentleman alluded in illustrating home facts in his record this great fact of our unrivalled prosperity in the Union as it is admitted whether all this is in spite of the Government whether we of the South would have been better off without the Government is, to say the least, problematical. On the one side we can only put the fact against specu lation and conjecture on the other. But even as a question of speculation I differ from my distinguished friend. What we would have lost in border wars without the Union, or what we have gained simply by the peace it has secured, is not within our power to estimate. Our foreign trade, which is the foundation of all our prosperity, has the protection of the navy, which drove the pirates from the waters near our coast where they had been biiccaneering for centuries before, and might have been still had it not been for the American navy, under the command of such a spirit as Commodore Porter. Now that the coast is clear, that our commerce flows freely, outwardly and inwardly, we cannot well estimate how it would have been under other circumstances. The influence of the Government on us is like that of the atmosphere around us. Its benefits are so silent and unseen that they are seldom thought of or appre ciated. "We seldom think of the single element of oxygen in the air we breathe, and yet let this simple unseen and unfelt agent be withdrawn, this life-giving element be taken away from this all-pervading fluid around us, 'and what instant and appalling changes would take placfe in all organic creation! It may be that we are what we are '' in spite of the General Govern ment," but it may be that without it we should have been far different from what we are now. It is true that there is no equal part of the earth with natural resources superior, perhaps, to ours. That portion of this country known as the Southern States, stretching from the Chesa peake to the Rio Grande, is fully equal to the picture drawn by the honorable and eloquent senator last night, in all natural capacities. But how many ages, centuries, passed before these capacities were devel oped, to reach this advanced stage of civilization 1 These same hills, rich in ore, these same rivers, these same valleys and plains, are as they have 1504 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS been since they came from the hand of the Creator. Uneducated and uncivilized man roamed over them, for how long no history informs us. It was only under our institutions that they could be developed. The organization of society has much to do with the development of the natural resources of any country or any land. The institutions of a people, political and moral, form the matrix in which the germ of their organic structure quickens into life, takes root, and develops in form, nature and character. Our institutions constitute the basis, the matrix, from which springs all our characteristics of development and greatness. Look at Greece! There is the same fertile soil, the same blue sky, the same inlets and harbors, the same Aegean, the same Olympus there is the same land where Homer sang, where Pericles spoke it is in nature the same old Greece; but it is living Greece no more ! Descendants of the same people inhabit the country; yet what is the reason for this mighty difference? In the midst of present degradation we see the glorious fragments of ancient works of art temples, with ornaments and inscriptions that excite wonder and admiration, the remains of a once high order of civilization, which has outlived the lan guage they spoke. Upon them all, Ichabod is written their glory has departed. Why is this so? I answer, their institutions have been de stroyed. These were but the fruits of their form of government, the matrix from which their grand development sprung; and when once the institutions of our people shall have been destroyed, there is no earthly power that can bring back the Promethean spark to kindle them here again, any more than in that ancient land of eloquence, poetry, and song. The same may be said of Italy. "Where is Rome, once the mistress of the world ? There are the same seven hills now, the same soil, the same natural resources; nature is the same; but what a ruin of human great ness meets the eye of the traveler throughout the length and breadth of that most downtrodden land ? Why have not the people of that heavenfavored clime the spirit that animated their fathers? AVhy this sad difference? It is the destruction of her institutions that has caused it. And, my coiintrymen, if we shall, in an evil hour, rashly pull down and destroy those institutions, which the patriotic hand of our fathers labored so long and so hard to build up, and which have done so much for us and for the world, who can venture the prediction that similar results will not ensue? Let us avoid them if we can. I trust the spirit is. amongst us that will enable us to do it. Let us not rashly try the experi ment of change, of pulling down and destroying, for, as in Greece and Italy, and the South American republics, and in every other place, when our liberty is once lost, it may never be restored to us again. ' There are defects in our Government, errors in our administration, and shortcomings of many kinds, but in spite of these defects and errors. Georgia has grown to be a great state. Let us pause here a moment. In 1850 there was a great crisis, but not so fearful as this, for, of all I have ever passed through, this is the most perilous, and requires to be met with the greatest calmness and deliberation. There were many amongst us in 1850 zealous to go at once out of the Union to disrupt every tie that binds us together. Now do you believe that, had that policy been carried out at that time, we would have been the same great people that we are today ? It may be that we would, but have you any assurance GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1505 of that fact 1 Would we have made the same advancement, improvement, and progress, in all that constitutes material wealth and prosperity that we have ? I notice in the comptroller general's report that the taxable property of Georgia is $670,000,000 and upwards, an amount not far from double what it was in 1850. I think I may venture to say that for the last ten years the material wealth of the people of Georgia has been nearly if not quite doubled. The same may be said of our advance in education, and everything that marks our civilization. Have we any assurance that had we regarded the earnest but misguided patriotic advice, as I think, of some of that day, and disrupted the ties which bind us to the Union, we would have advanced as we have ? I think not. Well, then, let us be careful now before we attempt any rash experiment of this sort. I know that there are friends whose patriotism I do not intend to question, who think this Union a curse, and that we would be better off without it. I do not so think; if we can bring about a correction of these evils which threaten, and I am not without hope that such may yet be done. This appeal to go out, with all the promises for good which accompany it, I look upon as a great, and I fear, a fatal temptation. When I look around and see our prosperity in everything agricul ture, commerce, art, science, and every department of progress, physical, mental and moral certainly, in the face of such an exhibition, if we can, without the loss of power, or any essential right or interest, remain in the Union, it is a duty to ourselves and to posterity to do so. Let us not unwisely yield to this temptation. Our first parents, the great progenitors of the human race, were not without a like temptation when in the Garden of Eden. They were led to believe that their condition would be bettered, that their eyes would be opened, and that they would become as gods. They in an evil hour yielded, and instead of becoming gods they only saw their nakedness. I look upon this country with our institutions as the Eden of the world, the Paradise of the universe. It may be that out of it we may become greater and-more prosperous, but I am candid and sincere in telling you that I fear if we yield to passion and, without sufficient cause, shall take this step, that, instead of becom ing greater or more peaceful, prosperous and happy, instead of becoming gods we will become demons, and, at no distant day, commence cutting one another's throats. This is my apprehension. Let us, therefore, whatever we do, meet these difficulties, great as they are, like wise and sensible men, and consider them in the light of all the consequences which may attend our action. Let us first see clearly where the path of duty leads, and then we may not fear to tread therein. . I come now to the main question put to me, and on which my counsel has been asked. That is, what the present Legislature should do, in view of the dangers which threaten us, and the wrongs done us by several of our Confederate States in the Union, by the acts of their legislatures nul lifying the Fugitive Slave Law, and in direct disregard o:f their con stitutional obligations. What I shall say will not be in the spirit of dictation. It will be simply my own judgment for what it is worth. It proceeds from a strong conviction that according to it our rights, our interests, our honor, our present safety and future security, can be maintained, without yet looking to the last resort, the ultima ratio regum. 1506 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS That should not be looked to until all else fails. That may come. On this point I am hopeful but not sanguine. But let us use every patriotic effort to prevent it while there is ground for hope. If any view that I may present, in your judgment, be inconsistent with the best interests of Georgia, I ask you as patriots not to regard it. After hearing me and others whom you have advised with, act in accord ance with your own convictions of duty as patriots. I speak now par ticularly to the members of the Legislature present. There are, as I have said, great dangers ahead. Great dangers may come from the election I have spoken of. If the policy of Mr. Lincoln and his repub lican associates shall be carried out, or attempted to be carried out, no man in Georgia will be more willing or ready than myself to defend our rights, interests, and honor, at every hazard and to the last extremity. What is this policy ? It is, in the first place, to exclude us, by an act of Congress, from the territories with our slave property. He is for using the power of the general Government against the extension of our insti tutions. Our position on this point is, and ought to be, at all hazards, for perfect equality between all the states and the citizens of all the states, in the territories, under the Constitution of the United States. If Congress should exercise its power against this, then I am for standing where Georgia planted herself in 1850. These were plain propositions which were then laid down in her celebrated platform, as sufficient for the disruption of the Union, if the occasion should ever come; on these Georgia has declared that she will go out of the Union; and for these she would be justified by the nations of the earth in so doing. I say the same; I said it then, I say it now, if Mr. Lincoln's policy should be carried out. I have told you that I do not think his bare election sufficient cause; but if his policy should be carried out, in violation of any of the principles set forth in the Georgia platform, that would be such an act of aggression as ought to be met in the manner therein provided for. If his policy should be carried out in repealing or modifying the Fugitive Slave Law so as to weaken its efficacy, Georgia has declared that she will, in the last resort, disrupt the ties of the Union; and I say so too. I stand upon the Georgia platform, and upon every plank of it; and if these aggres sions therein provided for take place, I say to you and to the people of Georgia, be ready for the assault when it comes; keep your powder dry ; and let your assailants then have lead, if need be. I would wait for an act of aggression. This is my position. Now, upon another point, and that the most difficult, and deserving your most serious consideration, I will speak. That is the course which this state should pursue toward these Northern States which, by their legislative acts, have attempted to nullify the Fugitive Slave Law. I know that in some of these states their acts are said to be based upon the principles set forth in the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of Prigg against Pennsylvania; that decision did pro claim the doctrine that the state officers are not bound to carry out the provisions of a law of Congress; that the Federal Government cannot impose duties upon.state officials; that they must execute their own laws by their own officers. And this may ,be true. But still it is the duty of the states to deliver fugitive slaves, as well as the duty of the general Government to see that it is done. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1507 Northern states, on entering into the Federal compact, pledged them selves to surrender such fugitives; and it is in disregard of their con stitutional obligations that they have passed laws which even tend to hinder or inhibit the fulfilment of that obligation. They have violated their plighted faith. What ought we to do in view of this? That is the question. What is to be done ? By the law of nations you would have a right to demand the carrying out of this article of agreement, and I do not see that it should be otherwise with respect to the states of this Union; and, in case it be not done, we would by these principles have the right to commit acts of reprisal on these faithless governments, and seize upon their property, or that of their citizens, wherever found. The states of the Union stand upon the same footing with foreign nations in this respect. But by the law of nations we are equally bound, before proceeding to violent measures, to set forth our grievances before the offending government, to give them an opportunity to redress the wrong. Has our state done this 1 I think not. Suppose it were Great Britain that had violated some compact of agreement with the general Government what would be first done 1 In that case our minister would be directed, in the first instance, to bring the matter to the attention of that government, or a commissioner be sent to that country, to open negotiations with her, ask for redress, and it would be only after'argument and reason had been exhausted in vain that we would take the last resort of nations. That would be the course toward a foreign government, and toward a member of this confederacy I would recommend the same course. Let us not, therefore, act hastily or ill-temperedly in this matter. Let your Committee on the State of the Republic make out a bill of grievances; let it be sent by the governor to those faithless states; and if reason and argument shall be tried in vain, if all shall fail to induce them to return to their constitutional obligations, I would be for retaliatory measures, such as the governor has suggested to you. This mode of resistance within the Union is in our power. It might be effectual, and if, in the last resort, we would be justified in the eyes of nations, not only in separating from them but in using force. [Here the speaker was interrupted by a voice from the audience stat ing that the argument was already exhausted.] Some friend says that the argument is already exhausted. No, my friend, it is not. You have never called the attention of the legislatures of those states to this subject that I am aware of. Nothing on this line has ever been done before this year. The attention of our own people has been called to the subject lately. Now then, my recommendation to you would be this: In view of all these questions of difficulty, let a conven tion of all the people of Georgia be called, to which they may all be referred. Let the sovereignty of the people speak. Some think the election of Mr. Lincoln cause sufficient to dissolve the Union, Some think these other grievances are sufficient to dissolve the same, and that the Legislature has the power thus to act, and ought thus to act. I have no hesitancy in saying that the Legislature is not the proper body to sever our Federal relations, if that necessity should arise. An honorable and distinguished gentleman the other night (Mr. T. R. R. Cobb) advised 1508 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS you to take this course not to wait to hear from the cross-roads arid groceries. I say to you that you have no power so to act. You must refer this question to the people, and you must wait to hear from the men at the cross-roads and even the groceries; for the people of this country, whether at the cross-roads or the groceries, whether in cottages or palaces, are all equal, and they are the sovereigns in this country. Sovereignty is not in the Legislature. We, the people, are sovereigns. I am one of them, and have a right to be heard; and so has every other citizen of the state. You legislators I speak it respectfully are but our servants; you are the servants of the people, not their masters. Power resides with the people in this country. The difference between our country and all others, such as France, England, and Ireland, is, that here there is popu lar sovereignty, while their sovereignty is exercised by kings and favored classes. This principle of popular sovereignty, however much derided lately, is the foundation of our institutions. Constitutions are but the channels through which the popular will may be expressed. Our Con stitution came from the people. They made it, and they alone can right fully unmake it. [Mr. Toombs here interrupted by saying that he was afraid of con ventions, whereupon Mr. Stephens continued:] I am not afraid of any convention legally chosen by the people. I know no way to decide great questions affecting fundamental laws except by representatives of the people. The Constitution of the United States was made by representatives of the people in convention. The Constitu tion of the State of Georgia was made by representatives of the people in convention, chosen at the ballot-box. Let us therefore now have a convention, chosen by the people. But do not let the question which comes before the people be put to them in the language of my honorable friend who addressed you last night: " Will you submit to abolition rule, or resist?" [Mr. Toombs: "I do not wish the people to be cheated."] Now, my friends, how are we going to cheat the people by calling on them to elect delegates to a convention to decide all these questions, without dictation or direction? Who proposes to cheat the people by let ting them speak their own untrammelled views in the choice of their ablest and best men, to determine upon all these matters involving their peace? I think the proposition of my honorable friend had a consider able smack of unfairness, not to say cheat. He wishes to have no con vention, but for the Legislature to submit this question to the people: "Submission to abolition rule, or resistance?" Now, who in Georgia would vote, "Submission to abolition rule?" Is putting such a question to the people to vote on a fair way of getting an expression of the popular will on all these questions ? I think not. Now who in Georgia is going to submit to abolition rule? '[Mr. Toombs: "The Convention will."] No, my friend, Georgia will not do it. The convention will not recede from the Georgia platform. Under that, there can be no abolition rule in the general Government. I am now afraid to trust the people in con vention upon this and all other questions. Besides, the Legislature was not elected for such a purpose. They came here to do their duty as GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1509 legislators. They have sworn to support the Constitution of the United States. They did not come here to disrupt the Government. I am, there fore, for submitting all these questions to a convention of the people. To submit these questions to the people, whether they would submit to abolition rule or resist, and then for the Legislature to act on that vote, would be an insult to the people. But how Mill it be, under this arrangement, if they should vote to resist, and the Legislature should reassemble with this vote as their instruction. Can any man tell what sort of resistance will be meant? One man would say secede; another pass retaliatory measures these are measures of resistance against wrong, legitimate and right; and there would be as many different ideas as there are members on this floor. Resistance does not mean secession that is no proper sense of the term resistance. Believing that the times require action, I am for presenting the question fairly to the people, for calling together an untrammelled convention, and presenting all the questions to them, whether they will . go out of the Union, or what course of resistance in the Union they may think best, and then let the Legislature act, when the people in their majesty are heard, and I tell you now, whatever that convention does, I hope and trust our people will abide by. I advise the calling of a con vention, with the earnest desire to preserve the peace and harmony of the state. I would dislike, above all things, to see violent measures adopted, or a disposition to take the sword in hand, by individuals, without the authority of law. My honorable friend said last night, "I ask you to give me the sword, for if you do not give it to me, as God lives, I will take it myself." [Mr. Toombs: "I will."] I have no doubt my honorable friend feels as he says. It is only his excessive ardor that makes him use such an expression; but this will pass off with the excitement of the hour. When the people in their majesty shall speak, I have no doubt he -will bow to their will, whatever it may be, upon sober second thought. Should Georgia determine to go out of the Union, I speak for one, though my views may not agree with them, whatever the result may be, I shall bow to the will of her people. Their cause is my cause, and their destiny is my destiny; and I trust this will be the ultimate course of all. The greatest curse that can befall a free people is civil war. ** But, as I have said, let us call a convention of the people. Let all these matters be submitted to it, and when the will of a majority of the people has thus been expressed, the whole state will present one unani mous voice jn favor of whatever may be demanded; for I believe in the power of the people to govern themselves, when wisdom prevails, and passion does not control their action. Look at what has already been done by them, in their advancement in all that ennobles man! There is nothing like it in the history of the world. Look abroad from one extent of the country to the other; contemplate our greatness. We are now among the first nations of the earth. Shall it be said, then, that our institutions, founded on the principles of self-government, are a failure? Thus far, it is a noble example, worthy of imitation. The gentleman (Mr. Cobb) said the other night it has proven a failure. A failure in what ? In growth ? Look at our expense in national power. Look at our Vol. Ill--16 ^^X^X^^WWWTW-^^ 1510 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS population and increase in all that makes a people great. A failure? Why, we are the admiration of the civilized world, and present the brightest hopes of mankind. Some of our public men have failed in their aspirations; that is true, and from that comes a great part of our troubles. No, there is no failure of this Government yet. We have made great advancement under the Constitution, and I cannot but hope that we will advance higher still. Let us be rue to our trust. Now, when this convention assembles, if it shall be called, as I hope it may, I would say, in my judgment, without dictation, for I am conferring with you freely and frankly, and it is thus that I give my views, it should take into consideration all those questions which distract the public mind; should view all the grounds of secession as far as the election of Mr. Lincoln is concerned; and I cannot but hope, if reason is unbiased by passion, that they would say that the constitutional election of no man is sufficient cause to break up the Union, but that the state should wait until he, at least, does some unconstitutional act. [Mr. Toombs : "Commit some overt act?"] No, I did not say that. The word overt is a sort of technical term connected with treason, which has come to us from the mother country, and it means an open act of rebellion. I do not see how Mr. Lincoln can do this, unless he should levy war upon us. I do not, therefore, use the word overt. I do not intend to wait for that. But I use the word unconstitutional act, which our people understand much better, and which expresses just what I mean. But as long as he conforms to the Constitution, he should be left to exercise the duties of his office. In giving this advice I am but sustaining the Constitution of my country, and I do not thereby become a '' Lincoln aid man'' either, but a Consti tution aid man. But this matter the convention can determine. As to the other matter, I think we have a right to pass retaliatory measures, provided they be in accordance with the Constitution of the United States; and I think they can be made so. But whether it would be wise for this Legislature to do this now is the question. To the con vention, in my judgment, this matter ought to be referred. Before mak ing reprisals we should exhaust every means of bringing about a peaceful settlement of the controversy. Thus did General Jackson in the case of the French. He did not recommend reprisals until he had treated with France and gotten her to promise to make indemnification, and it was only on her refusal to pay the money which she had promised that he recommended reprisals. It was after negotiation had failed. I do think, therefore, it would be best before going to extreme measures with our Confederate States, to make the presentation of our demands, to appeal to their reason and judgment, to give us our rights. Then, if reason should not triumph, it will be time enough to commit reprisals, and we should be justified in the eyes of .the civilized world. At least let these offending and derelict states know what your grievances are, and if they refuse, as I said, to give us our rights under the Constitution, I should be willing, as a last resort, to sever the ties of our Union with them. My own opinion is, that if this course be pursued, and they are informed of the consequences of refusal, these states will recede, will repeal their nullifying acts; but if they should not, then let the conse- GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1511 quertees be with them, and the responsibility for the consequences rest upon them. Another thing I would have that convention do. Reaffirm the Georgia platform with an additional plank in it. Let that plank be the fulfilment of these constitutional obligations on the part of those states their repeal of these obnoxious laws as the condition of our remaining in the Union. Give them time to consider it, and I would ask all the states south to do the same thing. I am for exhausting all that patriotism demands before taking the last step. I would, therefore, invite South Carolina to a conference. I would ask the same of all the other Southern States, so that if the evil should get beyond our control, which God in his mercy forbid, we may not be divided among ourselves; but if possible secure the co-operation of all the South ern States, and then, in the face of the civilized world, we may justify our action, and with the wrong all on the other side, we can appeal to the God of battles, if it comes to that, to aid us in our cause. But do nothing in which any part of our people can charge you with rash or hasty action. It is certainly a matter of great importance to tear this Government asunder. You are not sent here for that purpose. I would wish the whole South to be united, if this is to be done; and I believe, if we pursue the policy which I have indicated, this can be effected. In this way our sister Southern States can be induced to act with us; and I have but little doubt that the states of New York, and Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and the other Western States, will compel their legislatures to recede from their hostile attitude, if the others do not. Then with these we would go on without New England, if she chose to stay out. [Someone in the Assembly: "We will kick them out."] No, I would not kick them out. But if they chose to stay out, they might. I think, moreover, that these Northern States, being principally engaged in manufactures, would find that they had as much interest in the Union under the Constitution as we, and that they would return to their constitutional duty this would be my hope. If they should not, and if the Middle States and the Western States do not join us, we should at least have an undivided South. I am, as you clearly perceive, for maintaining the Union as it is, if possible. I will exhaust every means thus to maintain it with an equality in it. My position then, in conclusion, is for the maintenance of the honor, the rights, the equality, the security, and the glory of my native state in the Union, if possible; but if these cannot be maintained in the Union, then I am for their maintenance, at all hazards, out of it. Next to the honor and glory of Georgia, the land of my birth, I hold the honor and glory of our common country. In Savannah, I was made to say by the reporters, who often make me say things which I never did, that I was first for the glory of the whole country, and next for that of Georgia. I said the exact reverse of this. I am proud of her history, of her present standing. I am proud even of her motto, which I would have duly respected at the present time by all her sons "Wisdom, Justice and Moderation.'' I would have her rights, and those of the Southern States, maintained upon these principles. Her position now is just what it was in 1850, with respect to the Southern States. Her platform then estab lished was subsequently adopted by most, if not all, of the Southern States. Now, I would add but one additional plank to that platform, 1512 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS which I have stated, and one which time has shown to be necessary, and if that shall likewise be adopted in substance by all the Southern States, then all may yet be well. But if all this fails, we shall at least have ,the satisfaction of knowing that we have done our duty and all that patriot ism could require. ROBERT TOOMBS ' FAREWELL ADDRESS IN THEI UNITED STATES SENATE [Mr. Toombs delivered his farewell speech in the United States Senate on January 7, 1861, twelve days in advance of Georgia's action in adopt ing the ordinance of secession. According to James G. Blaine, it was the only speech made by a southern man in Congress specifying the grievances of the South, and naming the conditions on which the seced ing states would remain in the Union. Like all the speeches of Mr. Toombs, it is epigrammatic, lucid and eloquent.] Mr. President and Senators : * * * The success of the abolition ists and their allies, under the name of the republican party, has pro duced its logical results. They have for years been sowing the dragons' teeth and have finally reaped a crop of armed men. The Union, sir, is dissolved. That is an accomplished fact in the path of this discussion that men may as well heed. * * * And while this Congress, this Senate and this House of Representatives are debating the constitution ality and the expediency of seceding from the Union, and while the perfidious authors of this mischief are showering down denunciations upon a large portion of the patriotic men of this country, those brave men are coolly and calmly voting what you call revolution aye, sir, doing "better than that: arming to defend it. They appealed to the Con stitution, they appealed to justice, they appealed to fraternity, until the .Constitution, justice and fraternity were no longer listened to in the legislative halls of their country, and then, sir, they prepared for the arbitrament of the sword; and now you see the glittering bayonet, and you hear the tramp of armed men from your capitol to the Rio Grande. It is a sight that gladdens the eyes and cheers the hearts of other millions who are ready to second them. Inasmuch, sir, as I have labored earnestly, honestly, sincerely, with these men to avert this necessity, so long as I deemed it possible, and inasmuch as I heartily approve their present conduct of resistance, I deem it my duty to state their case to the Senate, to the country, and to the civilized world. Senators, my countrymen have demanded no new Government; they have demanded no new Constitution. Look to their records at home and here from the beginning of this national strife until its consummation in the disruption of the empire, and they have not demanded a single thing except that you shall abide by the Constitution of the United States; that constitutional rights shall be restored, and that justice shall be done. Sirs, they have stood by your Constitution; they have stood by all its requirements; they have performed all of its duties unselfishly, uncalculatingly, disinterestedly, until a party sprang up in this country which endangered their social system a party which they arraign and which they charge before the American people and all mankind with having made proclamation of outlawry against four thousand millions GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1513 of their property in the territories of the United States; with having put them under the ban of the empire in all the states in which their institutions exist, outside of the protection of the Federal laws; with having aided and abetted insurrection from within and invasion from without, with the view of subverting those institutions, and desolating their homes and their firesides. For these causes they have taken up arms. I shall proceed to vindicate the justice of their demands, the patriotism of their conduct. I will show the injustice which they suffer and the rightfulness of their resistance. I have stated that the discontented states of this Union have demanded nothing but clear, distinct, unequivocal, well-acknowledged, constitu tional rights, rights affirmed by the highest judicial tribunals of their country; rights older than the Constnrution; rights which are planted upon the immutable principles of natural justice; rights which have been affirmed by the good and the wise of all countries, and of all cen turies. We demand no power to injure any man. We demand no right to injure our Confederate States. "We demand no right to interfere with their institutions, either by word or deed. We have no right to disturb their peace, their tranquillity, their security. "We have demanded of them simply, solely nothing else to give us equality, security, tran quillity. Give us these, and peace restores itself. Refuse them, and take what you can get. I will now read my own demands, acting under my own convictions, and the universal judgment of my countrymen. They are considered the demands of an extremist. To hold to a constitutional view now makes one considered an extremist. I believe that is the appellation these traitors and villains, North and South, employ. I accept their reproach rather than their principles. Accepting their designations of treason and rebellion, there stands before them as good a traitor and as good a rebel as ever descended from Revolutionary loins. What do these rebels demand ? First, '' that the people of the United States shall have an equal right to emigrate and settle in the present or in any future-acquired territories, with whatever property they may possess including slaves and be securely protected in its peaceable enjoyment until such territory shall be admitted as a State into the Union, with or without slavery, as she may determine, on an equality with all existing States." That is our territorial demand. We have fought for this territory when blood was its price. We have paid for it when gold was its price. We have not proposed to exclude you, though you have contributed very little of either blood or money. I refer especially to New England. We demand only to go into those territories upon terms of equality with you, as equals in this great Confederacy, to enjoy the common property of the whole Union, and receive the protection of the common Government, until the territory is capable of coming into the Union as a sovereign state, when it may fix its own institutions to suit itself. The second proposition is, "that property in slaves shall be entitled to the same protection from the Government of the United States, in all of its departments, everywhere, which the Constitution confers the power upon it to extend to any other property, provided nothing herein con tained shall be construed to limit or restrain the right now belonging to 1514 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS every State to prohibit, abolish, or establish and protect slavery within its limits." We demand of the common Government to use its granted powers to protect our property as well as yours. For this protection we pay as much as you do. This very property is subject to taxation. It has been taxed by you, and sold by you for taxes. The title to thousands and tens-of thousands of slaves is derived from the United States. We claim that the Government, while the Constitution recognizes our prop erty for purposes of taxation, shall give it the same protection that it gives yours. Ought it not to do so? You say, no. Every one of you upon the committee said, no. Your senators say, no. Your House of Representatives says, no. Throughout the length and breadth of your conspiracy against the Constitution there is but one shout of No! This recognition of this right is the price of my allegiance. Withhold it, and you do not get my obedience. This is the philosophy of the armed men who have sprung up in this country. Do you ask me to support a Gov ernment that will tax my property, that will plunder me, that will demand my blood, and will not protect me? I would rather see the population of my own native state laid six feet beneath her sod than that they should support for one hour such a Government. Protection is the price of obedience everywhere, in all countries. It is the only thing that makes government respectable. Deny it, and you cannot have free sub jects or citizens; you may have slaves. We demand in the next place, "that persons committing crimes against slave property in one State and fleeing to another shall be deliv ered up in the same manner as persons committing crimes against other property, and that the laws of the State from which such persons flee shall be the test of criminality. That is another one of the demands of an extremist and a rebel. The Constitution of the United States, Article Four, Section Two, reads: "A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice and be found ID another State, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime.'' But the non-slaveholding states, treacherous to their oaths and com pacts-, have steadily refused, if the criminal only stole a negro, and that negro a slave, to deliver him up. It was refused twice on the requisition of my own state, as long as twenty-two years ago. It was refused by Kent and by Fairfield, governors of Maine, and representing, I believe, each of the then Federal parties. We appealed then to fraternity; but we submitted; and this constitutional right has been practically a dead letter from that day to this. The next case came up between us and the State of New York, when the present senior senator (Mr. Seward) was governor of that state; and he refused it. Why 1 He said it was not against the laws of the. State of New York to steal a negro, and therefore he would not comply with the demand. He made a.similar refusal to Virginia. Yet these are our confederates; these are our sister states! There is the bargain; there is the compact. You have sworn to it. Both of these governors swore to it. The senator from New York swore to it. The governor of Ohio swore to it when he was inaugurated. You cannot bind them by oaths. Yet they talk to us of treason; and I suppose they expect GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1515 to whip freemen into loving such brethren! Tliey will have a good time in doing it. It is natural we should want this provision of the Constitu tion carried out. The Constitution says slaves are property; the Supreme Court says so. The theft of slaves is a crime. By the text and letter of the Constitution you have agreed to give them up. You have sworn to do it, and you have broken your oaths. Of course, those who have done so look out for pretexts. Nobody expected them to do otherwise. I do not think I ever saw a perjurer, however bald and naked, who could not invent some pretexts to palliate his crime, or who could not, for 15 shillings, hire an Old Bailey lawyer to invent some for him. Yet this requirement of the Constitution is another one of the extreme de mands of an extremist and a rebel. The next stipulation is that fugitive slaves shall be surrendered under the provision of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, without being entitled either to a writ of habeas corpus or trial by jury, or other similar obstructions of legislation, in the state to which he may flee. Here is. the Constitution: "No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regu lation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service, or labor may be due." This language is plain, and everybody understood it in the same way for the first forty years of your Government. It 1 was adopted unani mously in the Senate of the United States, and nearly so in the House of Representatives. Nobody then had invented pretexts to show that the Constitution did not mean a negro slave. It was clear; it was plain. Not only the Federal courts, but all the local courts in all the states decide that this was a constitutional obligation. How is it now? The North sought to evade it. Following the instincts of their national char acter, they commenced with the fraudulent fiction that fugitives were entitled to habeas corpus, entitled to trial by jury in the state to which they fled. They pretended to believe that fugitive slaves were entitled to more rights than their white citizens; perhaps they were right; they know one another better than I do. You may charge a white man with treason, or felony, or other crime, and you do not require any trial by jury before'he is given up; there is nothing to determine but that he is legally charged with a crime and that he fled, and then he is to be delivered up on demand. White people are delivered up every day in this way, but not slaves. Slaves, black people, you say, are entitled to trial by jury; and in this way schemes have been invented to defeat your plain constitutional obligations. In January, last year, I argued this question, and presented at the close of my speech a compilation made by a friend of mine of the laws of the non-slaveholding states on this point. The honorable 'gentleman from Vermont [Mr. Collamer] com mented upon the reference to his state; and the greater portion of his speech was taken up with a discussion of the particular act which was quoted in my appendix. I have no doubt the senator did not know of the Act of 1858. I will read him one or two of the sections of that act. I referred to and commented on it then in my speech; but in the appendix 1516 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS containing the compilation there was an accidental misreference. That act provides "That every person who may have been held as a slave, who shall come, or be brought, or be in this State, with or without the consent of his or her alleged master " Mr. Collamer: What date is that ? Mr. Toombs: Eighteen hundred and fifty-eight. It is entitled:" An act to secure freedom to all persons in this State." Mr. Collamer: That is not the one mentioned in the senator's speech. Mr. Toombs: I have explained why it was not in the appendix; but I had read it and I supposed the senator had. The senator made his speech on this reference, because, I suppose, it was more easily answered. Mr. Collamer: I made the speech on the one to which reference was made. Mr. Toombs: That was very adroitly done, or very ignorantly done, I do not know which, but I want to see that.portion of our record right. This was the act to which I referred, and upon which I commented in the body of my speech, though not in the appendix, which was prepared by another person: "Every person who may have been held as a slave, who shall come, or be brought, or be in this State, with or without the consent of his or her alleged master or mistress, or who shall come, or be brought, or be in this State, shall be free." The Constitution of the United States says they shall not be free; Vermont says they shall; and yet all her legislators are sworn to obey the Constitution. Vermont says if slaves come, voluntarily or involun- tarily, with or without consent, if they flee from service, or if they come into Vermont, in any way, they shall be free. The Constitution says they shall not be discharged from service if they flee; Vermont says they shall be. That is another one of our sisters for whom we ought to have a deep attachment. Again: ' "Every person who shall hold, or attempt to hold, in this State, in slavery, or as a slave, any free person, in any form or for any time, however short, under the pretense that such a person is or has been a slave, shall, on conviction thereof, be imprisoned in the State prison for a term not less than five years nor more than twenty years, and be fined not less than $1,000 nor more than $10,000." This is decidedly fraternal! If a man passes voluntarily through the State of Vermont with his slave, that state, in her fraternal affections, will keep him fifteen years in the state prison and fine him $2,000. Fra- ternal, affectionate Vermont! I have made these references for the benefit of the senator. Will he say that this was done only to carry out the decision in Prigg versus Pennsylvania? * * * The next demand made on behalf of the South is "that Congress shall pass efficient laws for the punishment of all persons, in any of the States, who shall, in any manner, aid or abet invasion or insurrection in any other State, or commit any other act against the laws of nations, tending to disturb the tranquillity of the people or government of any other State." That is a very plain principle. The Constitution of the United States now requires, and gives Congress the express power, to GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1517 define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas and offenses against the laws of nations. When the honorable and dis tinguished senator from Illinois (Mr. Douglas) last year introduced a bill for the purpose of punishing people thus offending, under that clause of the Constitution, Mr. Lincoln, in his speech in New York, which I have before me, declared that it was a '' sedition bill,'' his press and his party hooted at it. So far from recognizing the bill as intended to carry out the Constitution of the United States, it received their jeers and jibes. The black republicans of Massachusetts elected the admirer and eulogist of John Brown's courage as their governor, and we may suppose he will throw no impediments in the way of John Brown's successors. The epithet applied to the bill of the senator from Illinois is quoted from a deliberate speech delivered by Lincoln in New York, for which, it was stated in the journals, according to some resolutions passed by an asso ciation of his own party, he was paid a couple of hundred dollars. The speech should therefore have been deliberate. Lincoln denounced that bill. He placed the stamp of his condemnation upon a measure intended to promote the peace and security of Confederate States. He is, there fore, an enemy of the human race, and deserves the execration of all. mankind. We demand these five propositions. Are they not right? Are they not just? Take them in detail and show that they are not warranted by the Constitution, by the safety of our people, by the principles of eternal justice. We will pause and consider them; but, mark me, we will not let you decide the question for us. But we are told by well7meaning but simple-minded people that, ad mitting our wrongs, our remedies are not justifiable. Senators, I have lit tle care to dispute remedies with you, unless you propose to redress my wrongs. If you propose that in good faith, I willl listen, with respectful deference; but when the objectors to my remedies propose no adequate ones of their own, I know what they mean by the objection. I tell them, if I have good sight, perhaps the musket will improve my defective remedy. But still I will as yet argue it with them. These thirteen colonies originally had no bond of union whatever; no more than Jamaica or Australia have today. They were wholly sep arate communities, independent of each other, and dependent on the Crown of Great Britain. All the union between them that was ever made is in writing. They made two written compacts. One was known as the Articles of Confederation, which declared that the Union thereby formed should be perpetual an argument very much relied upon by the "friends of the Union" now. These Articles of Confederation in terms declared that they should be perpetual. I believe that expression is used in our last treaty with Billy Bowlegs, chief of the Seminoles. I know it is a phrase used in treaties with all nations, civilized and savage. Those that are not declared eternal are the exceptions; but usually trea ties profess to be for "perpetual peace and amity," according to their terms. So was that treaty between the states. After awhile, however, the politicians said it did not work well. It carries us through the Revo lution. The difficulty was that, after the war, there were troubles about the regulation of commerce, about navigation, and above all, about finan cial matters. The Government had no means of getting at the pockets of 1518 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS the people; and but for that one difficulty, this present Government would never have been made. The country is deluded with the nonsense that this bond of union was cemented by the blood of brave men in the Revolution. Sir, it is false. It never cost a drop of blood. A large portion of the best men of the Revolution voted against it. It was carried in the convention of Virginia by but ten majority, and among its opponents were Monroe and Henry, and other men who had fought in the war, who recorded their judgment that it was not a good bond; and I am satisfied today that they were the wiser men. This talk about the blood of patriots is intended to humbug the country, to scare the old women. Why, sir, it never cost a drop of blood. It was carried in some of the states by treachery, by men betraying their constituents. That is the history of the times. Five votes would have tied it in Virginia. It passed New York by but three majority. Out of nearly four hundred in the conven tion of Massachusetts, it passed by nineteen. That is the history of the action of the three greatest states of the Union at that time. Some, of the bravest and boldest and the best men of the Revolution, who fought from its beginning to its end, were opposed to the plan of union; and among them was the illustrious author of the Declaration of Independence him self. Are we to be deterred by the cry that we are laying our unhal lowed hands upon this holy altar? Sir, I have no hesitation in saying that a large portion of the people of Georgia, whom I represent, prefer to remain in this Union, with their constitutional rights I would say 90 per cent of them believing it to be a good Government. They have lived and prospered in it. Shallow-pated fools have told them this Gov ernment was the cause of their prosperity, and they have never troubled to inquire whether or not this were true. I think it had but little to do with their prosperity beyond securing their peace with other nations, and that boon has been paid for at a price that no freeman ought to submit to. These are my own opinions; they have been announced to my constituents, and I announce them here. Had I lived in that day, I should have voted with the majority in Virginia, with Monroe, Henry, and the illustrious patriots who composed the seventy-nine votes against the adoption of the present plan of government. In my opinion, if they had prevailed, today the men of the South would have the greatest and most powerful nation of the earth. Let this judgment stand for future ages. Senators, the Constitution is a compact. It contains all our obliga tions and duties to the Federal Government. I am content, and have ever been content, to sustain it. While I -doubt its perfection; while I do not believe it was a good compact; and while I never saw the day that I would have voted for it as a proposition de novo, yet I am bound to it by oath and by that common prudence which would induce me to abide by established forms rather than to rush into unknown dangers. I have given to it, and intend to give to it, unfaltering support and< allegiance; but I choose to put that allegiance on the true ground, not on the false idea that anybody's Blood was shed for it. I say that the Constitution is the whole compact. All the obligations, all the chains that fetter the limbs of my people, are nominated in the bond, and they wisely excluded any conclusions against them, by declaring that any powers not granted by the Constitution to the United States, or forbidden by it to the states, GEOBGIA AND GEORGIANS 1519 belonged to the states respectively or to the people. .Now I will try it by that standard; I will subject it to that test. The law of nature, the law of justice, would say and it is so expounded by the publicists that equal rights in the common property shall be enjoyed. Even in a mon archy the king cannot prevent the subjects from enjoying equality in the disposition of the public property. Even in a despotic government, this principle is recognized. It was the blood and money of the whole people says the learned Grotius and say all the publicists which ac quired the public property, and therefore it is not the property of the sovereign. This right of equality being, then, according to justice and natural equity, a right belonging to all the states, when did we give it up? You say Congress lias a right to pass rules and regulations con cerning the territory and other property of the United States. Very well. Does that exclude those whose blood and money paid for it? Does "dis pose of" mean to rob the rightful owners? You must show a better title than that, or a better sword than we have. But you say, try the right. I agree to it. But how ? By our judg ment? No, not until the last resort. What then; by yours? No, not until the same time. How then try it? The South has always said, by the Supreme Court. But that is in our favor, and Lincoln has said he will not stand that judgment. Then each must judge for himself of the mode and manner of redress. But you deny us that privileges and finally reduce us to accepting your judgment. We decline it. You say you will enforce it by executing laws; that means your judgment of what the laws ought to be. Perhaps you will have a good time executing your judgment. The senator from Kentucky (Mr. Crittcnden) comes to your aid, and says he can find 110 constitutional right of secession. Perhaps not; but the Constitution is not the place in which to look for state rights. If.that right belongs to independent states, and they did not cede it to the Federal Government, it is reserved to the states, or to the people. Ask your new commentator where he gets the right to judge for us. Is it in the bond? The northern doctrine was, many years ago, that the Supreme Court was the judge. That was their doctrine in 1800. They denounced Madi son for the report of 1799, on the Virginia resolutions; they denounced Jefferson for framing the Kentucky resolutions, because they were pre sumed to impugn the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States; and they declared that the court was made by the Constitution, the ultimate and supreme arbiter. That was the universal judgment the declaration of every free state in this Union, in answer to the Vir ginia resolutions of 1798, and of all who did answer, even including the State of Delaware, then under Federal control. * * * The Supreme Court has decided that, by the Constitution, we have a right to go into the territories, and be protected there, with our prop erty. You say we cannot decide the compact for ourselves. Well, can the Supreme Court decide it for us? Mr. Lincoln says he does not care what the Supreme Court decides, he will turn us out anyhow. He says this in his debate with the honorable senator from Illinois (Mr. Doug las). I have it before me. He said he would vote against the decisions of the Supreme Court. Then you do not accept the arbiter. You will not take my construction; you will not take the Supreme Court as an 1520 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS arbiter; you will not take the practice of the Government; you will not take the treaties under Jefferson and Madison upon the very question of prohibition, in 1820. What, then, will you take? You will take nothing but your own judgment; that is, you will not only judge for yourselves, not only discard the court, discard our construction, discard the practice of the Government, but you will drive us out, simply because you will it. Your party says you will not take the decision of the Supreme Court. You said so at Chicago; you said so in com mittee; every man of you in both Houses now says so. What are you going to do? You say we shall submit to your construction. We will do it, if you can make us; but not otherwise, or in any other manner. That is settled. You have no warrant in the Constitution for this declaration of out lawry. The court says you have no right to make it. The treaty says you shall not do it. The treaty of 1803 declares that the property of the people shall be protected by the Government until they are admit ted into the Union as a state. That treaty covers Kansas and Nebraska. The law passed in 1804, or 1805, under Mr. Jefferson, protects property in slaves in that very territory. In 1820, when the question of prohibi tion came up, Mr. Madison declared it was not warranted by the Con stitution, and Jefferson denounced its abettors as enemies of the human race. Here is the court; here are our fathers; here is contemporaneous exposition for fifty years, all asserting our right. The republican, party says: "We care riot for your precedents or practices; we have pro gressive politics, as well as a progressive religion." But no matter what may be our grievance, the honorable senator from Kentucky (Mr. Crittenden) says we cannot secede. Well, what can we do? .We cannot revolutionize; he will say that is treason. What can we do ? Submit 1 They say they are the strongest and will hang us. Very well, I suppose we are to be thankful for that boon. We will take the risk. We will stand by the right. We will take the Constitution and we will defend it by the sword, with the halter around our necks. Will that satisfy the honorable senator from Kentucky? You cannot intimidate my constituents by talking to them of treason. * * * I insist upon this perfect equality in the territories; yet when it was pro posed, as I understand the senator from Kentucky now proposes, that the lines of 36 degrees 30 minutes shall be extended, acknowledging and protecting our property on the south side of that line, for the sake of peace permanent peace I said to the committee of thirteen, and I say here, that, with other satisfactory provisions, I would accept it. Yet, not only did your committee refuse that, but my distinguished friend from Mississippi (Mr. Davis) another moderate gentleman like myself proposed simply to get a recognition that we had a right to our own; that man could have property in man; and it met with the unanimous refusal of the most moderate, Union-saving, compromising portion of the republican party. They do not intend to acknowledge it. Very well; you not only want to break down our constitutional rights; you not only want to upturn our social system; your people not only want to steal our slaves and make them freemen to vote against us; but you seek to bring an inferior race into a condition of equality, socially and politically, with our own people. Well, sir, the question of slavery moves not the people of Georgia one-half as much as the fact GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1521 that you insult their rights as a community. You abolitionists are right when you say that there are thousands and tens of thousands of men in Georgia, and all over the South, who do not own property in slaves. A very large portion of the people of Georgia own none of them. In the mountains there are comparatively few slaves; but no part of our people are more loyal to their race and country than our bold and brave mountain population; and every flash of the electric wires brings me cheering news from our mountain tops and our valleys that these sons of Georgia are excelled by none of their countrymen in loyalty to the rights, the honor, and the glory of the Commonwealth. They say, and well say, this is our question; we want no negro equality, no negro citi zenship ; we want no mongrel race to degrade our own; and as one man they would meet you upon the border, with the sword in one hand and the torch in the other. We will tell you when we. choose to abolish this thing; it must be done under our direction and according to our will; our own, our native land, shall determine this question, and not the abolitionists of the North. That is the spirit of our freeman. . I have already adverted to the proposition in regard to giving up criminals who are charged with stealing negroes, and I have referred to the cases of Maine, New York, and Ohio. I now come to the last speci fication the requirement that laws should be passed punishing all who aid and abet insurrection. These are offenses recognized by the laws of nations as inimical to all society; and I shall read the opinions of an eminent publicist, when I get to that point. I said that you had aided and abetted insurrection. John Brown certainly invaded Virginia. John Brown's sympathizers, I presume, are not democrats. Two of the accomplices of John Brown fled, one to Ohio, one to Iowa. The gov ernors of both states refused to give up the fugitives from justice. The party maintained them. I am aware that in both cases there were pre texts to cover the shame of the transaction. I am going to show you that these pretexts were hollow, unsubstantial, not only against consti tutional law, but against the law of nations. I will show you that it was their duty to seize them, under the law of nations, and bring them to their Confederate States, or even to a friendly state. The first author ity I will read is Vattell on '' The Law of Nations.'' If there had been any well-founded ground, if the papers had been defective, if the case had been defectively stated, what was the general obligation of a friendly state without any constitutional obligations? This general principle is that. one state is bound to restrain its citizens from doing anything which tends to create disturbance in another state; to ferment disorders; to corrupt its citizens; or to alienate its allies. (Here Mr. Toombs quoted at some length from Vattell, p. 162.) That is the law of nations, as declared by one of the ablest expound ers ; but, besides, we have this principle embedded in our Constitution. We have there the obligation to deliver up fugitives from justice; and though it is in the Constitution though it is sanctioned, as I have said, by all ages and all centuries, by the wise and the good everywhere, our Confederate States are seeking false pretexts for evading a plain, social duty, in which are involved the peace and security of all society. If we had no Constitution, this obligation would devolve upon friendly states. If there were no constitutions, we ought to demand it. But, instead 1522 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS of giving us this protection, we are met with reproaches, reviling tricks, and treachery, to conceal and protect incendiaries and murderers. This man Brown and his accomplices had sympathizers. "Who were they? One of them, as I have said before, who was, according to his public speeches, a defender and laudator of John Brown, is governor of Massachusetts. Other officials of the state applauded Brown's hero ism, magnified his courage, and, no doubt, lamented his ill-success. Throughout the whole North, public meetings, immense gatherings, tri umphal processions, the honors of the hero and the conqueror, were awarded to this incendiary and assassin. They did not condemn the traitor; think you, they abhored the treason 1 Yet, I repeat, when a distinguished senator from a non-slaveholding state (Mr. Douglas) proposed to punish such attempts at invasion and insurrection, Lincoln and his party come before the world and say, "Here is a Sedition Law." To carry out the Constitution, to protect states from invasion, to suppress insurrection, and to comply with the laws of the United States, is a "Sedition Law," and the chief of his party treats it with contempt; yet, under the very same clause of the Consti tution which warranted this important bill, you derive your power to punish offenses against the law of nations. Under this warrant you have tried and punished our citizens for meditating the invasion of for eign states; you have stopped illegal expeditions; you have denounced our citizens as pirates, and commended them to the bloody vengeance of a merciless enemy. Under this principle alone you protect our weaker neighbors of Cuba, Honduras, and Nicarauga. By this alone we are empowered and bound to prevent our people from conspiring together, giving aid, giving money or arms to fit our expeditions against any foreign nation. Foreign nations get the benefit of this protection; but we are worse off in the Union than if we were out of it. Out of it, we would have the protection of the neutrality laws. Now you can come among us; raids may be made; you may put the incendiary's torch to our dwellings, as you did last summer, for hundreds of miles on the frontiers of Texas; you may do what John Brown did, and when the miscreants escape to your states you will not punish them; you will not deliver them up. Therefore we stand defenseless. We must cut loose from the accursed "body of this death," even to get the benefit of the law of nations. * * * You will not regard confederate obligations; you will not regard constitutional obligations; you will not regard your oaths. What, then, am I to do? Am I a freeman? Is my state a free state? To lie down and submit, because political fossils raise the cry of the glorious Union? Too long already have we listened to this delusive song. We are free men, We have rights; I have stated them. We have wrongs; I have recounted them. I have demonstrated that the party coming into power has declared us outlaws, and is determined to exclude four thousand mil lions of our property from the common territories; that it has declared us under the ban of the empire, and out of the protection of the laws of the United States everywhere. They have refused to protect us from invasion and insurrection by the Federal power, and the Constitution denies to us in the Union the right either to raise fleets or armies for our own defense. All these charges I have proven by the record; and T GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1523 put them, before the civilized world, and demand the judgment of today, of tomorrow, of distant ages, and of heaven itself upon the justice of these causes. I am content, whatever it be, to peril all in so noble, so holy a cause. We have appealed, time and time again, for these con stitutional rights. You have refused them. We appeal again. Restore us these rights as we had them, as your court adjudges them to be, just as all 'our people have said they are; redress these flagrant wrongs, seen of all men, and it will restore fraternity, and peace, and unity, to all of us. Refuse them, and what then? We shall then ask you, "Let us depart in peace." Refuse that, and you present us war. We accept it; and inscribing upon our banners the glorious words, liberty and equality, we will trust to the blood of the brave and the God of battles for security and tranquility. GENERAL COBB'S BUSH ARBOR SPEECH- [On July 4, 1868, there was held in Atlanta a state democratic con vention for the purpose of nominating presidential electors. To accom modate the great assemblage, an immense bush arbor was erected near the present site of the old union depot on Wall street. It is doubtful if oratory in Georgia ever reached a sublimer height than it registered on this occasion, when four of the state's most eloquent sons addressed the vast audience in language which has never been excelled for withering invective. The speakers were: Robert Toombs, Howell Cobb, Benjamin H. Hill, and Raphael J. Moses. It was at a time when the state was just emerging from the hideous nightmare of reconstruction. Each of these orators was famed throughout the nation. General Toombs had just returned from Europe, after an exile of two years. As the great "Mirabeau of Secession," his appearance upon the platform elicited the wildest outburst of enthusiasm and to satisfy the demands of an impa tient crowd, he was the first speaker introduced. But his speech, while a most terrific arraignment of the military regime in Georgia, failed to thrill his hearers as did the speeches of those who followed him. Mr. Hill's speech was unsurpassed. 'In the opinion of many, it was the greatest speech of his life, sxirpassing even his Davis Hall phillipic. But General Cobb was scarcely less eloquent, and his speech on this occasion constituted his valedictory message to the people of Georgia. He died suddenly just three months later in the City of .New York. Except in pamphlet form, this farewell message from the lips of General Cobb has never before appeared in print. The speech of Major Moses has perished. Said General Cobb:] Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: I congratulate you, my friends, that the time has come in Georgia when the people can meet together, as you have assembled today. When I say "the people," I mean just these I see before me these women and children, these good men and true, who are the representatives of the men and women throughout our state. I congratulate you that you meet and again hear the voices of your favorite sons that you can respond in your hearts to the patriotic sentiments which fall from the lips of those sons. AA^hile the past casts its shadows over the land, and my own 1524 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS heart is in sympathy with the picture which was drawn by my friend (General Toombs), yet I do feel rising up in my soul the promise of a brighter day, not far distant in the future. Today, in common with you, I have heard the familiar voice of one who, in times past, has aroused his countrymen from the mountains to the seaboard. He speaks freely and there is none to make him afraid. (Applause.) God speed the day when the echoes of that voice shall be heard throughout all the land, speaking from his old standpoint in the National Legislature. My friends, the argument on that branch of the subject which has been discussed by my friend has been presented to you so comprehensively that I shall not trespass upon your time, nor weaken its power and influence by a recapitulation of it. It was an exposition of truths that will live when you and I have passed away and are gone. The people of Georgia today are passing through a try ing ordeal, which I trust and believe will be of short duration, and from which they will emerge refined and purified like gold from the furnace. They are living under a government whose days are numbered, but while it exists it is well that we make the best we can of it. I shall offer some suggestions here in your hearing for the benefit of those who are called upon to administer that government in order that, to the extent it is in your power, your rights and interests may receive some protection. I shall offer some advice to Governor Bullock. Although he has not sent for me or summoned me to his councils, I shall waive eti quette and give him some advice which will do him good and be of great benefit to the state if he follows it. If he does not follow it, it has cost him so little, he will have no right to complain of me for having offered it. I would just say to him: Mr. Bullock, the people of Georgia have done you no wrong. It is your duty to inflict as little evil upon them as possible. Remember the cir cumstances under which you have been called upon to execute the duties of your gubernatorial office, and my advice.to you is to behave your self just as well as your nature and education will admit. (Laughter and applause.) I would say to him, in all kindness, that in the matter of character and reputation you. have everything to make and nothing to lose. (Laughter and applause.) A better opportunity never was offered to any man. He is like an adventurous youth who goes into a gambling house without money to play at faro. He has everything to win and nothing to lose. He may break the bank, but the bank cannot hurt him. I would say to him, Mr. Bullock, this Constitution which has been imposed upon the people of Georgia against their will and without their approval, invests you with a great deal of power. Exercise it in a way to do good to the state if you can. You have got a judiciary to appoint. I would advise you to send for the official copy of the address of the chairman of the Grant and Colfax Executive State Committee, written by one Joseph E. Brown, in which he assumes to announce for you that the judiciary of Georgia will be corruptly appointed to sub serve base and partisan purposes, and -when you get it make a bonfire of the paper, and blot from your memory the recollection of its contents. Be not deceived with the, idea that because your predecessor, the author of this paper, was partially successful in adding to his strength and popularity by a corrupt use of his official patronage, that a like success GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1525 will attend a like corrupt course on your part. If the argument based on considerations of patriotism and duty cannot reach you, let me warn you, as a matter of policy, not to resort to a course of conduct so unworthy, so base, and which, in the end, will be of no benefit to you, but must produce calamitous results for the state. The appeal I make for the appointment of an honest judiciary is one which should com mend itself to the favor of any man holding the high position you occupy, even though he reached that position by a not over creditable accident, the details of which I will not stop to discuss. I beg you to remember that since the organization of the Supreme Court of Georgia no one has been appointed to that bench who did not command the respect and confidence of the people. No one has ever filled that high station on whose integrity and honesty the shadow of a doubt ever rested. It remains with you to determine whether the high character of that bench shall be maintained, or whether it shall become a refuge for desti tute and discarded politicians whose infamy and treachery have made them outcasts from the companionship of honest men. (Applause.) In the name of the people of Georgia I call upon you this day to drive from your presence these bad men who ask you to forfeit the only claim you can ever have to public respect and confidence, by the appointment of such men to offices of trust and honor. Rid yourself of the miserable vermin who are fastening themselves upon you, who are calling on you to appoint them to the Supreme Court, the Superior Court and the Dis trict (Jourt, and who, in the better days of the Republic would never have presumed to solicit the appointment of a doorkeeper or a messen ger men whom you know to bo unworthy, and whose only claim to the positions they seek at your hands is the record of their own infamy. (Loud applause.) How strange and startling it will sound to the ears of those who live beyond the limits of our state to hear an appeal made by the people of Georgia to him who exercises the highest executive power to grant the state an honest judiciary! And yet, strange as it may appear, startling as it is, the rumors which fill the atmosphere of this capital justify the apprehension upon which the appeal is based.Therefore I say to you, Mr. Bullock, be warned in time. Commit not these outrages upon a people who, God knows, have suffered enough at the hands of their oppressors. If you heed not this warning voice today, the time will come when you will repent in sackcloth and ashes the degra dation which you will have brought upon yourself by the infliction of such an outrage upon a brave, a generous, and an honest people, in whose conduct towards you, you can find no justification for the injury you will have 'done. All I ask of you is to appoint honest men to these high positions, men who will administer the laws of the state in obedi ence to the conscientious obligations of their oaths. Fill all the offices with honest men. Protect the treasury from the robber band who are assembled here to break in and steal. Do these things, and at the end of your service you will have the consolation of knowing that if you have done the state no good, you will have refrained from doing it any serious harm. (Applause.) And for you this would be a result which your warmest admirers could not have reasonably anticipated. (Laugh ter and applause.) And now I turn from an appeal to those in power to you, my coun- Vol. Ill 17 1526 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS trymen, and I invoke your aid and co-operation in the great work before us, of lifting our state from its present fallen condition and restoring it to.its former prosperity and equality among her sister commonwealths of the Union. It is a noble work, worthy of the best efforts of our peo ple, in which all good men can and ought to unite with an earnest and cordial good will. The day of arms has passed. We look for the dawn of a day of peace such peace as carries healing on its wings and dif fuses blessings over the land not such peace as is offered to you at the point of the bayonet, or is contained in the findings of a military com mission, but the peace which is founded on justice, is supported by the law, is accompanied by liberty, and brings rejoicing and contentment to every heart. Such is the peace which will follow the election of Seymour and Blair, and the restoration of the Constitution a peace which will be for today, tomorrow, iand for all time to come, because it will be a peace that would calm all the troubled waters, quiet all apprehensions, restore confidence and security in all the departments of life, and cause everyone, everywhere, to feel that the good old days of the republic had returned. Such a peace is worthy of the best efforts of patriots, the prayers of Christians, and will command the blessings of heaven. (Loud applause.) I am here today to invoke your aid and co-operation in carrying for ward this great and good work. My countrymen, I care not who you are, I care not what has been your past history, I look to your status today. I want to know what you intend to do for your country in the future 1 She has suffered much, she has been wounded deeply, her body is covered over with the evi dences of these wounds and this suffering. This old state that has been so kind to you, so generous to me, beyond all that I deserve, beyond, perhaps, what you deserve this noble, gallant, bleeding old state calls upon her sons to come forward and aid in the good work of redeeming her from the hand of the wrongdoer and oppressor. Is there in all Geor gia one single heart, native or foreign, who will not respond in this the hour of her greatest trial, the hour in which she is struggling for lib erty and for constitutional rights of all her children ? The issue is fairly before me, my friends. None can fail to read it right. No man can plead ignorance. Not one who heard the exposition to which you and I have listened this morning, not one who has heard the eloquent voices of her sons throughout this land for months, can plead ignorance here after. The issue is made; on the one hand is a continuance and aggra vation of the wrongs from which she has so long suffered and is still suffering, and on the other a speedy deliverance from the bonds which have bound her and the opening of a bright and promising future. The path is open; you are invited to tread it. On the one hand there is dark ness, and shadow, and gloom, and continued misfortune and oppression; and on the other there is freedom, prosperity and peace. Choose you this day between these two offerings made for your free-will acceptance. My friends, that great party of this country which now brings within its fold every true man of the land, North, South, East and "West, with out reference to past political differences, comes and tenders you the guarantees of that Constitution which was framed by the wisdom and GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1527 consecrated by the blood of your fathers. Come and stand by us. Give your support to the men who are pledged to carry out these principles. We have put a candidate before you for the highest office in the country a man known as a statesman throughout the land a man whose record in the past has been true to those great principles of con stitutional rights. We have placed before you a candidate for vice presi dent, one who, it is true, like General Grant; fought you during the war, but, unlike General Grant, ceased to fight you when the war was over. (Appla.use.) I honor a brave man, I can do reverence to his virtues, though he has drawn the sword against me. I honor such a man, and today give evidence of it in the cordiality with which I will cast my vote for Frank P. Blair for vice president of the United States. But the man who, after the battle is over, travels over the field, and, with a valor that I cannot commend, draws his sword to thrust it into each corpse as he passes along, such a man can never command my respect, and if my advice is heeded will never get a vote in Georgia. Let the people of the North understand that we give to Seymour and Blair our warm and hearty support, with a perfect knowledge on our part that the one in the cabinet and the other on the field were fully identified with those who prosecuted the war against >us, and to whose overwhelming numbers we finally surrendered. We do not pretend to say that we support them because they warred against us, but in spite of it, believing as we do, that in a restored Union they will extend to us those sacred constitutional rights of which they are now the chosen and honored representatives. And this is all that the people of the South ask or expect at the hands of the people of the North. These are the men, these are the pledges which are offered to you by those whom I commend to your confidence and support today. On the other hand you are offered for the Presidency General Grant. I have said as much 'of him as he ever said of himself, and therefore he has no right to complain that I have not treated him with proper respect. Of Mr. Colfax, the candidate for -the vice presidency, I am not suffi ciently informed of his history in order to give you any very satisfac tory account of him. My opinion is, however, if, when in the days of his infancy, his mother had been told that he would be a candidate for vice president, it would have run the old lady crazy. (Laughter and cheers.) It is sufficient to say of them that they stand before you as the representatives of the Chicago platform. That is condemnation enough. But these men, fellow citizens, are of today and will pass away. The principles which they represent belong to the future and will live long after those who upheld them are forgotten. You have before you the great political truths presented by the democracy of the country. Let us go for a moment to Chicago and see what was presented there for the people of this country. What is offered to you by the convention of wild and bad men who placed General Grant and Mr. Colfax before the country ? I will not stop to discuss the dou ble-faced resolutions on finance. I come to the main starting proposi tion which you are called upon to give your sanction to, and which most nearly affects your interests. Fellow citizens, that platform announces to you that a white man's government shall be guaranteed to the people of the North, but that 1528 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS negroes are good enough for Georgia and the people of the South. I do not pretend to quote the language or the precise words, but such are the principles and doctrines enunciated. The radicals have not denied it in their press they have not denied it by their public men they can not, dare not, deny it. That platform says that the negroes of the South shall be guaranteed and protected in the exercise of political power, the right of suffrage, the right of sitting in the jury-box, the right of hold ing seats in the Legislature and upon the bench, and that it is all right and proper for you and for the people of the South that this should be the case; but when asked to put it to the people of the North, to the freemen of the West, and the freemen of the East and the Middle States, they said, "No! they are entitled to a white man's government; they are entitled to the protection which had been given them by the fathers of the land, from the earliest organization of the government; they are the sons of the revolutionary fathers who fought and with their blood won the liberty of this country by their wisdom adopted the Constitu tion. They shall have a white man's government; they are worthy of it; they deserve it, but for those rebels down South, those men in Georgia, those women and children in Georgia, they deserve no such protection; they shall have guaranteed to them no such Government.'' My friends, what think you of these men of the North f What think you of the Grants and the Coifaxes ? of the Thad Stevenses ? the Sumners and the Wilsons of the North, who went to Chicago and then wrote it down in cold blood there was no passion there was no excitement there were no war tones sounding throughout the land but coolly, calmly, passion less, they wrote it down upon their platform: '' The people of the South, you must submit to negro suffrage, you must submit to negro suprem acy; but for our own people we reserve the old landmarks of the Con stitution 1'' Today they defend the policy which puts these negroes in the Legislature. Today that platform says my friend (pointing to Mr. Toombs) and myself are properly and justly excluded from the rights of suffrage, from the right of holding office; but these negroes are the proper people to make laws to govern and control this great and good State of Georgia. What think you of northern men who are prepared to perpetuate this great wrong and outrage upon our people? Can you say to them, "Brother"? Can you say to them, "Friend"? Can you welcome them to your house, when they come to your midst, either with the insignia of office or in the habiliment of private citizens 1 Why should they won der and stand amazed because we bid them not to the feast when our friends are invited to assemble and make merry among themselves? Shall these men, ought these men, to expect it? Pardon me if I dwell upon it. I want to express it, and I urge it upon you, until there shall 'exist in the .heart and soul of every son and daughter that walks and breathes her pure air, and lives upon her happy soil, this conviction, that these men of the North, these Chicago men, these men who call upon you to vote for Grant and Colfax, and that Grant and Colfax, who have indorsed these things, are neither worthy of your vote, your respect, or of your confidence, much less of your kindness and hospital ity. My friends, they are our enemies. I state it in cool and calm debate. If they were our friends they could not doubly wrong us, and GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1529 if there beat in their bosom one single kindly emotion for the people of the South, they would never have made this public declaration to the world of your unworthiness and the contempt which they feel for you. Enemies they were in war, enemies they continue to be in peace. In war we drew the sword and bade them defiance; in peace we gather up the manhood of the South, and raising the banner of constitutional equality, and gathering around it the good men of the North as well as the South, we hurl into their teeth today the same defiance, and bid them come on to the struggle. We are ready for it if they are. But, my countrymen, if those are the feelings which rise 'in our bosom, in reference to these men of the North these men who have no bond of union with you these men who never trod upon your soil unless it was to plunder and to rob these men who know not these women and these children these men who have never worshiped at your altars, who never communed with the good men and women of your state around that altar erected to the living God if these are your feelings towards strangers in blood, and sympathy and association, what can be your feel ings towards those men of Georgia who traveled these hundreds of miles to meet these men at Chicago, who sat upon the bench with them, who went into the council chamber with them, and who have joined their voices and united their hearts in pronouncing that the men whom they have left behind them the men of Georgia who had honored them over much, who had lifted them from the lowest dregs of society and elevated them to the highest offices of honor, profit, and trust. What say you of such men who went to Chicago, and there, crouch at the feet of our ene mies, declared that these good people of Georgia deserved the fate that had come upon them, of being put under the ban of negro supremacy ? My countrymen, don't think I speak harsh words because I say hard truths. I speak of those delegates to the Chicago convention; I speak of them in unmeasured terms.' A friend told me, as I was coining here the other day, that he heard another say that by a speech that I had made at Davis Hall I had made half a dozen votes for Joe Brown. Well, I corne to make half a dozen more today. He and his associates were at Chicago. He and his associates joined and united in pronouncing this infamous doctrine the negro is good enough for Georgia, but. not good enough for Ohio and New York. Are not the people of Georgia right in assigning him the status which he has taken for himself"? If negroes are good enough for Georgia, it is that kind of Georgia that he is, and I shall not dis pute the doctrine. Let him associate with them, but white men of this country Cut loose from him. Amen and amen. Let it reverberate over your mountains, down your valleys, from your old men and your young men, your women and your children, until one grand chorus shall ring through every throbbing heart! '' Overboard with him!" " He has turned traitor to the country!" I tell you very frankly, my friends, I am not an intolerant man, but when I see a white man talking to Joe Brown and that class of men, a feeling of revulsion comes over me. I can't help it. But when I see them talking to a negro, I feel sorry for the negro. That is six more votes for Joe Brown. I will give him about three more, and quit him. I say to you, my friends, you owe it to your selves, you owe it to the noble dead who sleep in their graves, to observe 1530 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS these things. You go here, and I honor you for it, and scatter flowers over those graves. God bless you for it! They are the graves of good, true, and honest, and noble, and brave, and generous men. But as you return from that solemn duty turn your back to the right and left upon those who dishonor the memory of the dead. You owe it to the living, you owe it to your own children and to their children. Write down in their memories this day and all days and for all time to come the feeling and spirit of abhorrence with which you regard these men. 0 heaven! for some blistering words that I may write infamy upon the forehead of these men, that they may travel through earth despised of all men and rejected of heaven, scorned by the devil himself. They may seek their final congenial resting-place under the mudsills of that ancient institution prepared for them from the beginning of the world. Fellow citizens, being in a counseling and advising mood today, I am disposed to ask a favor of another class of our fellow citizens; a class of whom I have not asked favors heretofore. They have been amongst us for the last three, years, men of the North, some of them in high mili tary position, some of them wearing the simple vestments of private life. Now the time has come when many of these are to leave us and return back to their homes, and in the part which they have played to return no more forever. Now, of these gentlemen personally, I know nothing, but I have a word to say to them and to ask them to bear a message from the people of the South to the people of the North. You have been here for three years. When you return to your homes tell your people .that you came here and found our land one general plain of desolation; the ashes stand, or stood then, where this beautiful city now stands. You found our people overwhelmed by numbers, a conquered people, if you please, but a brave and generous people still. You have been in our midst and have seen the wrongs that have been done this people. You have seen their old men and their young men torn from the bosom of their families, and from their labor and occupation without warrant or authority of constitutional law. You have seen them car ried to the dungeon, and from the dungeon to the courts which had no jurisdiction under the Constitution. Tell your people of the North these things when you go. Tell them, too, you have seen the polls opened, you have seen Georgia's noblest sons, born upon the soil and reared under her institutions, sons whom she has delighted to honor, sons whom you have received with welcoming arms in all the Northern States you have seen these sons, upon whose character not one single blot rests, you have seen them driven from the polls. Tell them that! Tell them that you have seen the poor, ignorant, debased, unhappy, unfortunate, and deluded negro taken, not by the voice of persuasion and of argument, but by a power which he could not and dare not resist, and you have seen him go and fill xip that ballot-box that formerly received the votes of the good and true men of Georgia. Tell them that you have stood here in her legislative halls. Gray-headed fathers have told you that these seats were once filled by the noblest and truest men of the land her Crawford, her Troup, her Forsyth, her Berrien, her Lumpkin, her Wayne her great and, good men in the days that are past. Around me here I see the gray-headed fathers of this land who once filled these seats. Tell me whom you saw there 011 yesterday. True, some of her GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1531 sons, good and true men, are there to try to save and rescue their state from wrong, but tell them that the seats of Troup and Clark were filled by two negroes who could not write their names. Tell them that my own old County of Clark these men will recognize the name I speak of Clayton, Dougherty, Hull, and Hope, and Thomas, and, in later days, the brave and gallant Deloney, and other good citizens tell them when you go to the North the seats formerly occupied by these men were filled by illiterate negroes. Tell them when you go there that in times past you were told that the good men of Georgia assembled at her capitol to inaugurate her government, these men whose names I have mentioned to you; but never in all the history of this state was any man, be he good or bad, placed in that chair, with those insignia of office, but in the response to the voice of the people of Georgia. I care not, gentlemen of the North, military and civilians, with what prejudices you come here; I care not how passion has been inflamed. These are solemn truths, and it is your duty as honest men to tell the message I this day give you. Tell them that on the 4th day of July a day memorable in the history of your country a day honored and celebrated by the good men of the land Georgia was summoned by the party who now rules her destiny, to assemble in mass convention at her capital. You were here and .saw that scene. Go, I ask it as a favor; I will humble myself so far as to beg that the truth may be carried from Georgia and spread broadcast among your people. You witnessed that assembly. It was a mass meeting of the radicals of Georgia. Twenty white men. were here, and probably all who deserved the name of white men, outside of spectators, did not reach quite a half a dozen. They were a motley crowd of negroes. They spoke of Georgia; they thanked this beneficent legislation that had brought the great blessing upon the land. Men stood upon that platform who had been honored by Georgia, and, addressing that assembly of dark faces and kinky heads, with not one white man scattered, here or there, called them "my countrymen!" Well, if they are his countrymen, let him and his countrymen seek some more congenial climate. Africa is open to him, and not knowing Joe as well as I do, the people of that continent might bid him come. Go, gentlemen of the North, and tell your people that there was assembled in Georgia this great and noble old state that crowd! and a more respectable one works on my plantation every day, because they work for their daily bread and meat, and are respectable compared to the set of worthless creatures whom the radicals of both North and South pretend to call the people of Georgia. Tell them that that was the people in whose hands and under whose control you left this noble old state, when you turned your back upon me, to seek your own homes, and then tell them that on the 23d of July there was another assemblage calling themselves the people of Georgia. Come, now, and stand here by my side. I want you to cast your eyes over this vast assembly. Come and look upon those daughters of Geor gia, and, gentlemen of the North, tell me you have hearts you have souls you have in your own states mothers, wives, and sisters; I ask you to come here today and stand upon this platform and look upon our mothers, and sisters and wives and little ones, and tell me in your heart is it right and just and proper? Does your own heart dictate it, 1532 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS that those women and children ought to be under the dominion of those negroes that assembled on the Fourth of July 1 If there is one pulsation left in your heart, if there is one single throb left to beat for the people of the South, come and look upon this picture. Around them you see old men, denounced they have been as rebels, but from their youth up' they have lived in Georgia. Their neighbors know them, respect them, esteem them, love them. Ought these men to be placed under that negro dominion? Ought these men to be required to bow their necks to the yoke which oppression and despotism have prepared for them ? Oh, men of the North, as ye travel homeward, spread these truths broadcast; and when you receive a cordial welcome into your own home stead, and that wife and mother and daughter impress upon your lips the kiss of affection and love, remember, I beg you, remember the moth ers, and wives, and daughters of Georgia. If you cannot feel for them in that hour, then the spirit of love and affection has departed from you, never again to be reclaimed. Tell them that in the midst of all this desolation, in the midst of all these wrongs that there was not in all Georgia a single daughter that bowed her head to the yoke. Tell them that our brave men stood submissive at the point of the bayonet. Tell them that kindness and generosity would have won back the allegiance of their hearts, but all the bayonets that ever, were made in the American Union cannot drive manhood from their breasts. Tell them that these men were brave and generous to the last, hating their enemies, loving their friends, and, even if it had been necessary, from the scaffold they would have hurled defiance into the teeth of their oppressors. They would have welcomed every noble and generous heart to the South with a cordiality they extend alone to those they love. Tell them, moreover, Georgia has a home for every true man of the North. She has a wel come for every true man that will come to live among us and with us and be of us. But she has neither a true welcome nor a false hospitality to offer to those who come to wrong and oppress them, and when you have told them all this, tell them that in Georgia there was but one voice, one heart, one soul, one spirit. When you turn your back upon the state, looking through all her length and breadth, upon her mountains, in her valleys, in her cities, in her towns, along the public highways, in the public and private workshops, you don't leave behind you one single white radical advocate of the Chicago platform who was worthy of the respect and confidence of a gentleman. And when you are asked by your people what are the views and sentiments and purposes of the people of the South, do us the justice to pronounce the charge that we are hostile to the Union and the Con stitution, and that we desire to renew the bitter conflict through which we have just passed, as false and unfounded. Tell them.that when you heard the people of Georgia asserting their claims to perfect equality in the Union under the Constitution, you could not find it in your heart to deny the justice of their claims, and that the effort of the radical party as manifested in their congressional legislation and affirmed in the most offensive shape in their Chicago platform, should not find among the honest and true men of the North either an advocate or an apologist. Tell them that you believe it to be wrong, and that if they had. been GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1533 among us and witnessed what you have witnessed they would unite with you in condemning the injustice which these things have done to us. Tell them that the people of the South are ready and anxious for the restoration of perfect harmony and conciliation, whenever the terms upon which the restoration is offered, are such as brave and honorable men can accept that they long for peace, but it must not be linked with dishonor and the people of the North should bear in mind when they offer to us terms of humiliation, they not only wrong us but themselves also. Tell them that as you communed with our people you found that. the aspirations of. our young men, the prayers of our old men, and the ardent desire of all, were to restore a violated Constitution, cement a weakened Union, and unite all the people of this great country in a com mon and cordial brotherhood. Tell them these things, and if you present the picture faithfully you will have made a stronger argument, and a more powerful appeal for Seymour and Blair, than I can put in your mouths today. This, this is the picture that I want you to present. Fellow citizens, I come today in the spirit of tolerance. I want to bury in Georgia bitter recollections of the past. You and I have differed for days and for years since the hour in which my voice was first raised in the public meetings of my country. I come today to present you a platform, present candidates, and invite every good and true man in Georgia to join with me in the good work. Come if you have gone far astray come back. The doors are wide open, wide enough, broad enough to receive every white man in Georgia, unless you should discover him coming to you creeping and crawling under the Chicago platform. Upon them there should be no mercy. They have dishonored themselves and sought to dishonor you. Anathematize them. Drive them from the pale of social and political society. Leave them to wallow in their own mire and filth. Nobody will envy them, and if they are never taken out of the gully until I reach forth my hand to take them up they will die in their natural element. But all others come that have differed about recon struction. I could not go with you. I thought you were wrong. We differed in reference to the constitutional amendment. I thought you were still further from the path. But, my friends, come now, come, retrace your steps. You stand upon the bank; you have taken the last step you can take and recover lost ground. Come out from among this people. I appeal to you in the name of the past, in the memories of the past, in the hopes of the future. Sons of Georgia, come out from among this people. I appeal to you in their name. Oh ! can you stand here and look upon these faces full of mourning for the past, full of grief over that which cannot be redeemed ? But yet there plays a pleasant smile; a beam of hope comes gushing from each eye. Let it gush upon the altars of your heart, rekindle the flames that have almost gone out, and here today let all Georgia's sons come and unite in this great and glorious work. Her banner hangs drooping. Her proud institutions live only in memory. When she was a white man's government she was proud, hon ored, happy, prosperous. Come, and at this altar unite with, me, and, by the grace of heaven, let us once more make Georgia a white man's gov ernment. It is for you to say, by your votes and by your actions, whether the sun of her greatness shall again reach to meridian splendor. Old men, come. Mothers, to your altars, and carry your daughters with 1534 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS you. Ask the prayers of heaven upon your friends, upon your fathers, your husbands, and sons. Young men, in whose veins the red blood of youth runs so quickly, let the ardor of your temperaments, the pulsations of your hearts, all beat for Georgia! Your old state, the state of your fathers, that holds in reserve honors innumerable for you and them, come! Come one and all, and let us snatch the old banner from the dust, give it again to the breeze, and, if needs be, to the God of Battles, and strike one more honest blow for constitutional liberty. [This great speech was delivered in the national House of Representatives, on January 10, 1876, within a month after Mr. Hill took his seat in Congress. It was on the General Amnesty Bill, from the provisions of which Mr. Blaine, a representative from the State of Maine, moved to except Jefferson Davis, upon whom he sought to fix responsibility for the alleged prison horrors at Andersonville, Georgia. Mr. Blaine's inanifest purpose in making this speech was to further his political interests. He was an avowed candidate for the republican nomination for President and he sought to make friends for himself at the North by appealing to sectional animosities. He also endeavored to cast odium upon the national democracy by identifying it with the Confederate cause in the '60s, Mr. Hill, as a former Confederate States senator arid a close personal friend to Mr. Davis, familiar with the real facts in the case, was the man to reply to Mr. Blaine's vicious attack. His defense of Andersonville became a classic. He put the responsibility for prison conditions in the South where it properly belonged, viz., upon the war policy of the Federal Government, in making medicine contraband of war and in refusing to exchange prisoners. Mr. Blaine was utterly routed. He failed to capture the coveted nomination. Moreover, the popular vote, in 1876, was given to Samuel J. Tilden, the democratic nominee for President; and when the Georgia Legislature met in the following winter, Mr. Hill was elected to the Senate of the United States.] Mr. Speaker: The House will bear witness with me that we have not sought this discussion. Nothing could have been further from the desires and purposes of those who with me represent immediately the section of country which on yesterday was put upon trial than to reopen this discussion of the events of our unhappy past. We had well hoped that the country had suffered long enough from feuds, from strife, and from inflamed passions, and we came'here, sir, with a patriotic purpose to remember nothing but the country and the whole country, and turn ing our backs upon all the horrors of the past to look with all earnestness to find glories for the future. The gentleman [Mr. Blaine] who is the acknowledged leader of the republican party on this floor, who is the aspiring leader of the republican party of this country, representing most manifestly the wishes of many of his associates not all has willed otherwise. They seem determined that the wounds which were healing shall be reopened; that the passions which were hushing shall be reinflamed. Sir, I wish this House to understand that we do not reciprocate either the purpose or the manifest desire of the gentlemen on the other side, and while we feel it our imperative duty to vindicate the truth of history as regards the section which we represent, feeling that it is a portion of 111 illilil lllll ;J1|| iillll ; j j111 Hill! Hllll ;!11| 11 1; !; : i:j;i :{: ,;;;j; .' ;! .& ' :! >i :|| lil . : :1 ' 1| 1! .I! ;;! ;1| ill ;|| ;:;|| ' ; ;;|| GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1535 this common country, we do not intend to say anything calculated to aid the gentlemen in their work of crimination and recrimination, and of keeping up the war by politicians after brave men have said the war shall end. The gentleman from Maine on yesterday presented to the country two questions which lie manifestly intends to be the fundamental principles of the republican party, or at least of those who follow him in that party. The first is what he is pleased to term the magnanimity and grace of the republican party; the second is the brutality of those whom he is pleased to call *'' the rebels.'' Upon the first question I do not propose to weary the House today. If, with the history of the past fif teen years fresh in the memory of this people, the country is prepared to talk about the grace and magnanimity of the republican party, argument would be wasted. If, with master enslaved, intelligence disfranchised, society disorganized, industry paralyzed, states subverted, legislatures dispersed by the bayonet, the people can accord to that party the verdict of grace and magnanimity then may God save the future of our country from grace and magnanimity. I advance directly to that portion of the gentleman's argument, which relates to the question before the House. The gentleman from Pennsyl vania [Mr. Randall] has presented to this House, and asks it to adopt, a bill on the subject of amnesty, which is precisely the same as the bill passed in this House by the gentleman's own party, as I understand it, at the last session of Congress. The gentleman from Maine has moved a reconsideration of the vote by which it was rejected, avowing his pur pose to be to offer an amendment. The main purpose of that amendment is to except from the operation of the bill one of the citizens of this country, Mr. Jefferson Davis. He alleges two distinct reasons why he asks the House to make that exception. I will state those reasons in the gentleman's own language. First, he states that Mr. Davis was "the author knowingly, deliberately, guiltily and willfully of the gigantic crime and murder of Andersonville." That is a grave indictment. He then characterizes, in his second position, what he calls the horrors of Andersonville, and he says of them: "And I here before God, measuring my words, knowing their full extent and import, declare that neither the deeds of the Duke of Alva in the Low Countries, nor .the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, nor the thumb screws and engines of torture of the Spanish Inquisition, begin to com pare in atrocity with the hideous crimes of Andersonville." Sir, he stands before the country with his very fame imperiled if he, having made such charges, shall not sustain them.. Now, I take up the propositions of the gentleman in their order. I hope no one imagines that I am here to pass any eulogy upon Mr. Davis. The record upon which his fame must rest has been made up, and he and his friends have transmitted that record to the only judge who will give him an impartial judgment an honest, uiiimpassioned posterity. In the meantime, no eulogy from me can help him, no censure from the gentleman can damage him, and no act or resolution of this House can affect him. But the charge is that he is a murderer, and a deliberate, willful, guilty, and scheming murderer of "thousands of our fellow citizens." Why, sir, knowing the character of the honorable gentleman from Maine, his high reputation, when I heard the charge fall from his lips I thought surely 1536 , GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS the gentleman Had made a recent discovery, and I listened for the evi dence to justify that charge. He produced it; and what is it? To my utter amazement, as the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Kelley] has well stated, it-is nothing on earth but a report of a committee of this Congress, made when passions were at their height, and it was known to the gentleman and to the whole country eight years ago. Now, I say first, in relation to that testimony, that it is exclusively ex parte. It was taken when the gentleman who is now put upon trial by it before the country was imprisoned and in chains, without a hearing and without an opportunity to be heard. It was taken by enemies. It was taken in the midst of fury and rage. If there is anything in AngloSaxon law which ought to be considered sacred, it is the high privilege of an Englishman not to be condemned until he shall be confronted with the witnesses against him. But that is not all. The testimony produced by the gentleman is not only ex parte, not only exclusively the production of enemies, or at least taken by them and in the heat of passion, but the testimony is mutilated; ingeniously mutilated, palpably mutilated, most adroitly mutilated. Why, sir, one of the main witnesses is Dr. Joseph Jones, a very excellent gentleman, who was called upon to give his testi mony in what is called the Wirz trial, and which is produced before this House and attention called to it by the gentleman. The object of the gentleman was to prove that Mr. Davis knew of these atrocities at Andersonville, and he calls the attention of the House to the report of this committee, and thanks God it has been taken in time to be put where it can neither be contradicted nor gainsaid, as a perpetual guide to posterity to find out the authors of these crimes. One of the most striking and remarkable pieces of evidence in this whole report is found in the report made by Doctor Jones, a surgeon of fine character, and sent to Andersonville by the Confederate authorities to investigate the condition of the prison. That gentleman made his report, and it is brought into this House. What is it? The first point is as to the knowledge of this report going to any of the authorities at Richmond. Here is what Doctor Jones says : "I have just completed the report, which I placed in the hands of the judge-advocate, under orders from the government, when the Con federacy went to pieces. That report never was delivered to the surgeongeneral, and I was unaware that any one knew of its existence until I received orders from the United States Government to bring it and deliver it to this court in testimony.'' Now, he was ordered by the United States Government, the first time this report ever saw the light, to bring it and deliver it on the trial of Wirz. In accordance with that order, he did bring it and deliver it to the judge advocate-general. And when the report itself, or that which purported to be the report, was presented to him while he was a witness, he discovered that it was mutilated, and he asked permission to state that fact. Hear what he says on that subject: "I beg leave to make a statement to the court. That portion of my report which has been read is only a small part of the report. The real report contains the excuses which were given by the officers present at Andersonville, which I thought it right to embody in my report. It also contains documents forwarded to Richmond by Dr. White and Dr GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1537 Stevenson, and others in charge of the hospitals. Those documents con tained important facts as to the labors of the medical department and their efforts to better the condition of things.'' All that part of the report is suppressed, and with that suppression this magnificent receptacle of truth is filed away in the document room for the information of posterity. * * * Now I want to call attention to another extract from that original report a part not included in this book. There are a great many such omissions; I have not been able to get all of them. Doctor Jones, in his report, is giving an account of the causes of the sickness and mortality at Andersonville; and he says, among other things: "Surrounded by these depressing agents, the postponement of the general exchange of prisoners and the constantly receding hopes of deliv erance through the action of their own Government, depressed their already desponding spirits and destroyed those mental and moral ener gies so necessary for a successful struggle against disease and its agents. Home-sickness and disappointment, mental depression and distress, at tending the daily longing for an apparently hopeless release, are felt to be as potent agencies in the destruction of these prisoners as. the physical causes of actual disease." Ah, why that homesickness, that longing, and the distress consequent upon it, and its effect in carrying those poor, brave, unfortunate heroes to death ? I will tell this House before I am done. Now, sir, there is another fact. Wirz was put upon trial, but really Mr. Davis was the man intended to be tried through him. Over 160 witnesses were introduced before the military commission. The trial lasted three months. The whole country was under military despotism; citizens labored under duress; and quite a large number of Confederates were seeking to make favor with the powers of the Government. Yet, sir, during those three months, with all the witnesses they could bring to Washington, not one single man ever mentioned the name of Mr. Davis in connection with a single atrocity at Andersonville, or elsewhere. The gentleman from Maine with all his research into all the histories of the Duke of Alva and the Massacre of St. Bartholomew and the Spanish Inquisition, has not been able to frighten up a witness yet. Now, sir, there is a witness on this subject. Wirz was condemned, found guilty, sentenced to be executed;, and I have now before me the written statement of his counsel, a northern man and a Union man. He gave this statement to .the country, and it has never been contradicted. Hear what this gentleman says: . '' On the night before the execution of the prisoner Wirz, a telegram was sent to the Northern press from this city stating that Wirz had made important disclosures to General L. C. Baker, the well-known detective, implicating Jefferson Davis, and that the confession would probably be given to the public. On the same evening some parties came to the con fessor of Wirz, Rev. Father Boyle, and also to me as his counsel, one of them informing me that a high cabinet officer wished to assure Wirz that if he would implicate Jefferson Davis with atrocities committed at Andersonville his sentence would be commuted. The messenger requested me to inform Wirz of this. In the presence of Father Boyle I told Wirz next morning what had happened.'' 1538 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS Hear the reply: "Captain Wirz simply and quietly replied: 'Mr. Schade, you know that I have always told you that I do not know anything about Jefferson Davis. He had no connection with me as to what was done at Andersonville. I would not become a traitor against him or anybody else even to save my life.'' Sir, what AVirz, within two hours of his execution, would not say for his life, the gentleman from Maine says to the contrary to keep himself" and his party in power. Christianity is a falsehood, humanity is a lie, civilization is a cheat, or the man who would not make a false charge for his life was never guilty of a willful murder. He who makes a charge must produce his witnesses. They must be informed witnesses. They must be credible witnesses. The gentleman from Maine makes his charge but produces no witnesses. He says that men sent by Jefferson Davis to Andersonville were his officers, executing his orders, commissioned by him, and he therefore charges Mr. Davis with these atrocities by infer ence. It was only when the gentleman reached that portion of his argu ment that I thought I began to discover the real purpose of his movement. I will not charge him with it, but a suggestion came immediately to my mind. What is the proposition which the gentleman proposes to establish? It is that those high in authority are to be -charged with the sins and treacheries of their agents, commissioned by them and acting under their orders. Is the gentleman artfully I beg pardon under cover of the prejudice and passion against Jefferson Da.vis, seeking to assault Presi dent Grant? If Jefferson Davis sent General Winder to Andersonville, why President Grant sent McDonald and Joyce to St. Louis. Nay, more, sir; is not the very secretary of the White House, the private confiden tial secretary, indicted today for complicity in these frauds. Does the gentleman want to establish a rule of construction by which he can authorize the country to arraign General Grant for complicity in the whisky frauds ? Sir, is General Grant responsible for the Credit Mobilier? Was he a stockholder in the Sanborn contracts 1 Was he co-partner in the frauds upon this district ? With all his witnesses, the gentleman never can find a single man who was confidential secretary to Mr. Davis and charged with complicity in crime, that Mr. Davis ever endorsed any man as fit for office who was even gravely charged with any complicity in fraud. Yet the gentleman's President, as I understand it, absolutely sent to the Senate of the United States for confirmation to a high office the very man who stood charged before the country with the grossest peculations and frauds in this district, and that, too, after these charges were made and while the investigation was pending. Sir, I am neither the author nor the disciple of such political logic. And I will not, nor would I for any consideration, assume the proposition before this House to punish an enemy that would implicate the President of the United States in the grossest of frauds. Yet if the gentleman's proposition be true, General Grant, instead of being entitled to a third term as President, is entitled to twenty terms in twenty penitentiaries. But, sir, he is not guilty. The argument is false. It is a libel upon the American rule of law7 and English precedent. You cannot find its prece- GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1539 dent anywhere in any civilized country. I acquit General Grant of complicity in the whisky frauds and revenue frauds, and the facts acquit Mr. Davis of complicity in any atrocity anywhere. Now, Mr. Speaker, I pass from the construction of that question to the real facts about Andersonville. First, I want to call the attention of the House to the law of the Confederate Government on the subject of the treatment of prisoners. I read from the act of the Confederate Con &gress upon that subject. It was very simple and directed that "the rations furnished prisoners of war shall be the same in quantity and quality as those furnished to enlisted men in the army of the Confed eracy." That was the law; that was the law Mr. Davis approved; and that was the law which he, so far as his agency was concerned, executed. The gentleman in his speech has gone so far as to say that Mr. Davis purposely sent General Winder to Andersonville to organize a den of horrors and kill Federal soldiers. I do not quote exactly his language, but I know it is " to organize a den of horrors;'' but I am sure I can use no language more bitter than the gentleman used himself. Therefore, the next thing I shall read is the order given for the purpose of locating this prison at Andersonville, or wherever it should be properly located. The official drder for the location of the stockade enjoins that it should be in a "healthy locality, with plenty of pure water, with a running stream, and, if possible, with shade trees, and the immediate neighborhood of grist and saw mills.'' That does not Ipok like the organization of a den of horrors to commit murder. That was the official order. That was not all. These prisoners at Andersonville were not only allowed the rations measured out to Confederate soldiers both in quantity and quality in every respect, but they were allowed also to buy as much outside as they desired; a privilege, I am reliably informed, which was not extended to many of the Confederate prisoners. I do not know how this is. I do not wish to charge it if the facts were otherwise. But in the book which the gentleman from Maine himself produces we find this testimony given by a Union soldier. He says: "We never had any difficulty in getting vegetables; we used to buy almost anything we wanted of the sergeant who called the roll mornings and nights. His name was Smith, I think. He was Captain Wirz's chief sergeant. We were divided into messes, eight in each mess; my mess used to buy from two to four bushels of sweet potatoes a week, at the rate of $15 Confederate money per bushel." They got $20 of Confederate money for $1 of greenbacks in those days. '' Turnips were bought at $20 a bushel. We had to buy our own soap for washing our own persons and clothing; we bought meat and eggs and biscuit. There seemed to be an abundance of those things; they were in the market constantly. That sergeant used to come down with a wagon load of potatoes at a time, bringing twenty or twenty-five bushels at a load sometimes.'' Now, sir, Mr. Davis himself alluded to that privilege which was allowed to the Federal soldiers. The Confederate authorities not only allowed them to purchase supplies as they pleased outside, in addition to the rations allowed them by law the same rations allowed to Confed erate soldiers but he says: 1540 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS "By an indulgence perhaps unprecedented, we have even allowed the prisoners in our hands to be supplied by their friends at home with comforts not enjoyed by the men who captured them in battle.'' The Confederate Government gave Federal prisoners the same rations the Confederate soldiers in the field received. Federal prisoners had permission to buy whatever else they pleased, and the Confederates gave their friends at home permission to furnish them the means to do so. And yet, Mr. Speaker, it is true that, in spite of all these advantages enjoyed by these prisoners, there were horrors and great horrors at Andersonville. What were the causes of those horrors? The first was want of medicine. That is given as a cause by Doctor Jones in his testi mony ; that is given by this very Father Hamilton, from whom the gen tleman from Maine read. In the very same testimony which the gentle man read, Father Hamilton says: "I conversed with Dr. White'with regard to the condition of the men, and he told me it was not in his power to do anything for them; that he had no medicine and could not get any, and that he was doing everything in his power to help them." Now, how was it that medicine and other essential supplies could not be obtained? Unfortunately they were not in the Confederacy. The Federal Government made medicine contraband of war; and I am not aware that any other nation on earth ever did such a thing before not even the Duke of Alva, sir. The Confederate Government, unable to introduce medicine according to its right under the laws of nations, undertook to run the blockade, and whenever possible the Federal navy captured its ships and took the medicine. Then, when no other resource was left, when it was suspected that the women of the North earth's angels, God bless them would carry quinine and other medicines of that sort, so much needed by the Federal prisoners in the South, Federal officers were charged to capture the women and examine their petticoats, to keep them from carrying medicines to Confederate soldiers and to Federal prisoners, and they were imprisoned. Surely, sir, the Confed erate Government and the southern people are not to be blamed for a poverty in medicines, food and raiment, enforced by the stringent war measures of the Federal Government a poverty which had its intended effect of immeasurable distress to the Confederate armies, although inci dentally it inflicted unavoidable distress upon the Federal soldiers in the South. The Federal Government made clothing contraband of war. It sent down its armies, and they burned up the factories of the South wherever they could find them, for the express purpose of preventing the Con federates from furnishing clothing to their soldiers; and the Federal prisoners, of course, shared this deprivation of comfortable clothing. It was the war policy of the Federal Government to make supplies scarce. Doctor Jones in his testimony, and Father Hamilton in his testimony, which I will not stop to read to the House, explained why clothing was so scarce to Federal prisoners. Now, then, sir, whatever horrors existed at Andersonville, not one of them could be attributed to a single act of legislation of the Confed erate Government or to a single order of the Confederate Government, but -every horror of Andersonville grew out of the necessities of the GEOKGIA AND GEOKGIANS 1541 occasion, which necessities were cast upon the Confederacy, by the war policy of the other side. The gentleman from Maine says that no Con federate prisoner was ever maltreated in the North. And when my friend answered from his seat, "A thousand witnesses to the contrary in Georgia alone," the gentleman from Maine joined issue, but as usual produced no testimony in support of his issue. I think the gentleman from Maine is to be excused. For ten years unfortunately he and his have been reviling the people who were not allowed to come here to meet the reviling. Now, sir, we are face to face, and when you make a charge you must bring your proof.' The time has passed when the country can accept the impudence of assertion for the force of argument, or reckless ness of statement for the truth of history. Now, sir, I do not wish to unfold the chapter on the other side. I am an American. I honor my country, and my whole country, and it could be no pleasure to me to bring forward proof that any portion of my coun trymen had been guilty of willful murder or of cruel treatment to poor manacled prisoners. . Nor will I make any such charge. These horrors are inseparable, many of them and most of them, from a state of war. I hold in my hand a letter written by one who was a surgeon at the prison at Elmira, and he says: "The winter of 1864-1865 was an unusually severe and rigid one, and the prisoners arriving from the Southern States during this season were mostly old men and lads, clothed in attire suitable only to the genial climate of the South. I need not state to you that this alone was ample cause for an unusual mortality among them. The surroundings were of the following nature, viz., narrow, confined limits, but a few acres in extent " Andersonville, sir, embraced twenty-seven acres. "narrow, confined limits, but a few acres in extent, through which flowed a turbid stream of water, carrying along with it all the excremental filth and debris of the camp; this stream of water, horrible to relate, was the only source of supply for an extended period that the prisoners could use for the purposes of ablution and to quench their thirst from day to day; the tents and other shelter allotted to the camp at Elmira were insufficient and crowded to the utmost extent; hence small pox and other skin diseases raged throughout the camp. "Here I may note that, owing to a general order from the govern ment to vaccinate the prisoners, my opportunities were ample to observe the effect of spurious and diseased matter, and there is no doubt in my mind but that syphilis was ingrafted in many instances; ugly and horri ble ulcers and eruptions of a characteristic nature were, alas, too frequent and obvious to be mistaken; small-pox cases were crowded in such a manner that it was a matter of impossibility for the surgeon to treat his patients individually; and they actually laid so adjacent that the simple movement of one would cause his neighbor to cry out in an agony of pain. The confluent and malignant type prevailed to such an extent and was of such a nature that the body would frequently be found one con tinuous scab. "The diet and other allowances by the government for the use of the prisoners were ample, yet the poor unfortunates were allowed to starve." Now, sir, the Confederate regulations authorized ample provisions for Vol. Ill--18 1542 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS the Federal prisoners, the same that was made for Confederate soldiers, and you charge that Mr. Davis was responsible for not having those allowances honestly supplied. The United States made provisions for Confederate prisoners, so far as rations were concerned, for feeding those in Federal hands,- and yet what says the surgeon ? '' They were allowed to starve!" '' But why ? is a query which I will allow your readers to infer and to draw conclusions therefrom. Out of the numher of prisoners, as before mentioned, over three thousand of them now lay buried in the cemetery located near the camp for that purpose a mortality equal if not greater than that of any prison in the South. At Andersonville, as I am well informed by brother officers who endured confinement there, as well as by the records at Washington, the mortality was twelve thou sand out of, say, forty thousand prisoners. Hence it is readily to be seen that the range of mortality was no less at Elmira than at Ander sonville." Mr. Platt Will the gentleman allow me to interrupt him a moment to ask him where he gets that statement? Mr. Hill It is the statement of a Federal surgeon, published in the New York World. Mr. Platt I desire to say that I live within thirty-six miles of Elmira, and that those statements are unqualifiedly false. Mr. Hill Yes, and I suppose if one rose from the dead, the gentle man would not believe him. Mr. Platt Does the gentleman say those statements are true? Mr. Hill Certainly I do not say that they are true, but I do say that I believe the statement of the surgeon in charge before that of a politician thirty-six miles away. Now, will the gentleman believe testi mony from the dead 1 The Bible says, '' The tree is known by its fruits.'' And, after all, what is the test of suffering of these prisoners, North and South? The test is the result. Now, I call the attention of gentle men to this fact, that the report of Mr. Stanton, the secretary of war you will believe him, will you not? on the 19th of July, 1866 send to the .library and get it exhibits the fact that of the Federal prison ers in Confederate hands during the war only 22,576 died, while of Confederate prisoners in Federal hands 26,436 died. And SurgeonGeneral Barnes reports, in an official report I suppose you will believe him that in round numbers the Confederate prisoners in Federal hands amounted to 220,000, while the Federal prisoners in Confederate hands amounted to 270,000. Out of the 270,000 in Confederate hands 22,000 died, while out of the 220,000 Confederates in Federal hands over 26,000 died. The ratio is this: More than twelve per cent of the Confederates in Federal hands died, and less than nine per cent of the Federals in Confederate hands died. What is the logic of these facts according to the gentleman from Maine? I scorn to charge murder upon the -offi cials of northern prisons, as the gentleman has done upon Confederate prison officials. I labor to demonstrate that such miseries are inevitable in prison life, no matter how humane the regulations. I would scorn, too, to use a newspaper article, unless it were .signed by one who gave his own name and whose statement, if .not true, can be disproved, and I would believe such a one in preference to any politician over there who was thirty-six miles away from Elmira. That gentleman, so prompt GEOEGIA AND GEORGIANS 1543 to contradict a surgeon, might perhaps have smelled the small-pox, but he could not see.it, and I venture to say that if he knew the small-pox was there he would have taken very good care to keep thirty-six miles away. He is a wonderful witness. He is not even equal to the muti lated evidence brought in yesterday. But, sir, it appears from the offi cial record that the Confederates came from Elmira, from Fort Dela ware and from Rock Island, and other places, with their fingers frozen off, with their toes frozen off, and with teeth dropped out. But the great question is behind. Every American, North and South, must lament that our country has ever impeached its civilization by such an exhibition of horrors on any side, and I speak of these things with no degree of pleasure. God knows, if I could hide them from the view of the world, I would gladly do it. But the great question is, at last, who was responsible for this state of things 1 And that is the only material question with which statesmen now should deal. Sir, it is well known that, when the war opened, at first the authorities of the United States determined that they would not exchange prisoners. The first prisoners captured by the Federal forces were the crew of the Savan nah, and they were put in chains and sentenced to be executed. Jeffer son Davis, hearing of this, communicated through the lines, and the Confederates having meanwhile also captured prisoners, he threatened retaliation in case those men suffered, and the sentence against the crew of the Savannah was not executed. Subsequently our friends from this way I believe my friend before, me from Ne.w York (Mr. Cox) was one insisted that there should be a cartel for the exchange of prison ers. In 1862 that cartel was agreed upon. In substance and briefly it was that there should be an exchange of man for man and officer for officer, and whichever held an excess at the time of exchange should parole the excess. This worked very well until 1863. I am going over the facts very briefly. In 1863, this cartel was interrupted; the Federal authorities refused to continue the exchange. Now commenced a history which the world ought to know, and which I hope the House will grant me the privilege of stating, and I shall do it from official records. This, I say frankly to the gentleman on the other side, was in truth one of the severest blows stricken at the Confederacy, this refusal to exchange prisoners in 1863 and continued through 1864. The Confederates made every effort to renew* the cartel. Among other things, on the 2d of July,. 1863, the vice president of the Confederacy, to whom the gentleman from Maine alluded the other day in such complimentary terms, Mr. Alexander H. Stephens, was absolutely commissioned by Mr. Davis to cross the lines and come to Washington to consult with the Federal authorities, with a broad commission to agree upon any cartel satisfactory to the other side for an exchange of prisoners. Mr. Davis said to him: "Your mis sion is one of humanity and has no political aspect." Mr. Stephens undertook that work. What was the result? I wish to be careful, and I will state this exactly, correctly. Here is his letter: 1544 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS '' Confederate States Steamer, Torpedo, in "the James River, July 4, 1863: "Sir: "As military commissioner, I am the bearer of a communication in writing from Jefferson Davis, Commander-in-Chief of the land and naval forces of the Confederate States, to Abraham Lincoln, Commanderin-Chief of the land and naval forces of United States. Hon. Robert Ould, Confederate States agent of exchange, accompanies me as secre tary, for the purpose of delivering the communication in person and conferring upon the subject to which it relates. I desire to proceed to Washington in the steamer, Torpedo, commanded by Lieutenant Hun ter Davidson, of the Confederate States navy, no person being on board but Hon. Mr. Ould, myself, and the boat's officers and crew. "Yours most respectfully, "ALEX. H. STEPHENS. "To S. H. Lee, Admiral." Here is the answer: "Acting Rear Admiral S. H. Lee, Hampton Roads: The Request of Alexander II. Stephens is inadmissible. "GIDEON WELLS, "Secretary of the Navy." You will acknowledge that Mr. Stephens' humane mission failed. The Confederate authorities -gave to that mission as much dignity and char acter as possible. They supposed that, of all men in the South, Mr. Ste phens most nearly had your confidence. They selected him to be the bearer of messages for the sake of humanity in behalf of the brave Fed^ eral soldiers who were unfortunate prisoners of war. The Federal Gov ernment would not even receive him; the Federal authorities would not hear him. What was the next effort? After Mr. Stephens' mission failed, the commissioner for the exchange of prisoners, Colonel Ould, having exhausted all his efforts to get the cartel renewed, on the 24th of January, 1864, wrote the following letter to Major-General E. A. Hitchcock, agent of exchange on the Federal side: "Confederate States of America, War Department "Richmond, Va,, January 24, 1864. "Sir: "In view of the difficulties attending the exchange and release of prisoners, I propose that all such on either side shall be attended by a proper number of their own surgeons who, under rules to be established, shall be permitted to take charge of their health and comfort. I also propose that these surgeons shall act as commissaries, with power to receive and distribute such contributions of money, food, clothing, and medicines as may be forwarded for the relief of the prisoners. I fur ther propose that these surgeons shall be selected by their own govern ment, and that they shall have full liberty, at any and all times, through the agents of exchange, to make reports not only of their own acts, but of any matters relating to the welfare of the prisoners. "Respectfully, your obedient servant, "ROBERT OULD, "Agent of Exchange." GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1545 "Major-General E. A. Hitchcock." The Speaker The hour of the gentleman has expired. Mr. Randall I move the gentleman from Georgia be allowed to pro ceed. Mr. Blame I do not object; but before the gentleman from Georgia passes from the subject upon which he is now speaking, I would be glad to know The Speaker If there be no objection, the gentleman from Georgia will be allowed to proceed. There was no objection. Mr. Blame I believe the gentleman from Georgia was a member of the Confederate Senate. I find in a historical book of some authenticity of character that, in the Confederate Congress, Senator Hill, of Geor gia, introduced the following resolution, relating to prisoners. Mr. Hill You are putting me on trial now, are you? Go ahead. Mr. Blaine This is the resolution: "That every person pretending to be a soldier or officer of the United States, who shall be captured on the soil of the Confederate States, after the first day of January, 1863, shall be presumed to have entered the territory of the Confederate States with the intent.to incite insurrection and abet murder; and unless satisfactory proof be adduced to the contrary before the militai'y court before which the trial shall be held, shall suffer death. This section shall continue in force until the proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln, dated at Washington on the 22nd day of September, 1862, shall be rescinded, and the policy therein announced shall be abandoned, and no longer." * Mr. Hill I will say to the gentleman from Maine, very frankly, that I have not the slghtest recollection of ever hearing that resolution before. Mr. Blaine The gentleman does not deny, however, that he is the author of it? Mr. Hill I do not know. My own impression is that I was not the author; but I do not pretend to recollect the circumstances. If the gen tleman can give me the circumstances under which. the resolution,- was introduced, they might recall the matter to my mind. Mr. Blaine Allow me to read further: "October 1, 1862 The Judiciary Committee of the Confederate Con gress made a report and offered a set of resolutions upon the subject of President Lincoln's proclamation, from which the following are extracts: 2. Every white person who shall act as a commissioned or non-com missioned officer commanding negroes or mulattoes against the Confed erate States, or who shall arm, organize, train or prepare negroes or mulattoes for military service, or aid them in any military enterprise against the Confederate States, shall, if captured, suffer death. 3. Every commissioned or non-commissioned officer of the enemy who shall incite slaves to rebellion, or pretend to give them freedom, under the aforementioned act of Congress and proclamation, by abducting or causing them to be abducted or inducing them to abscond, shall, if cap tured, suffer death. Thereupon, Senator Hill, of Georgia, is recorded as having offered the resolution I have read. Mr. Hill I was chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the Senate. Mr. Blaine: And this resolution came directly from that committee. 1546 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS . Mr. Hill It is very probable that, like the chairman of the Commit tee on Rules at the last session, I may have consented to that report. Mr. Blaine The gentleman then admits that he did make that report. Mr. Hill I really do not remember. I think it very likely. A Member (to Mr. Blaine) What is the book? Mr. Blaine The book from which I have read is entitled: "Repub licanism in America," by R. Guy McClellan. It appears to be a book of good credit and authenticity. I merely want it settled whether the gen tleman from Georgia was or was not the author of that resolution. Mr. Hill I say to the gentleman 'frankly that I really do not remem ber. Mr. Blaine The gentleman does not say he was not the author. Mr. Hill I do not. I will say this: I think I was not the author. Possibly I reported the resolution. It refers in terms 'to '' pretended,'' not real soldiers. Mr. Blaine I thought that inasmuch as the gentleman's line of argu ment was to show the character of the Confederate policy, this might aid him a little in calling up the facts pertinent thereto. Mr. Hill With all due deference to the gentleman, I reply that he did not think any such thing. He .thought he would divert me from the purpose of my argument and break its force Mr. Blaine Oh, no. Mr. Hill He thought he would get up a discussion about certain measures presented in the Confederate Congress having no relation to the subject now under discussion, but which grew out of the peculiar relations of the Confederate Government to a population then in servi tude a population which the Confederate Government feared might be incited to insurrection and measures might have been proposed which the Confederate Government may have thought it proper to take to pro tect helpless women and children in the South from insurrection. But I will not allow myself to be diverted by the gentleman to go either into the history of slavery or of domestic insurrection, or, as a friend near me suggests, "John Brown's Raid." I know this, that if I or any gen tleman on the committee was the author of that resolution, which I think more than probable, our purpose was not to do injustice to any man, woman, or child, .North or South, but to adopt what we deemed stringent measures within the laws of war to protect our wives and children from servile insurrection and slaughter while our brave sons were at the front. That is all, sir. But, sir, I have read a letter from the Confederate commissioners of exchange, written in 1864, proposing that each side send surgeons with the prisoners; that they nurse and treat the prisoners; that the Federal authorities should send as many as they pleased; that those surgeons be commissioned also as commissaries to furnish supplies of clothing and food and everything else needed for the comfort of prisoners. Now, sir, how did the Federal Government treat that offer 1 It broke the cartel for an exchange of prisoners; it refused to entertain a propo sition, even when Mr. Stephens headed the commission, to renew it; and, then, sir, when the Confederates proposed that their own surgeons should accompany the prisoners of the respective armies, the Federal authori ties did not answer the letter. No reply was ever received. Then, again, GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS . 1547 in August, 1864, the Confederates made two more propositions. I will state that the cartel of exchange was broken by the Federal authorities for certain alleged reasons. Well, in August, 1864, prisoners on both sides accumulating to such an extent, and the Federal Government hav ing refused every proposition from, the Confederate authorities to pro vide for the comfort and treatment of these prisoners, the Confederates next proposed, in a letter from Colonel Quid, dated the 10th of August, 1864, waiving every objection the Federal Government had made, to agree to any and all terms to renew the exchange of prisoners, man for man, and officer for officer, as the Federal Government should prescribe. Yet, sir, the latter rejected that proposition. Then, again, in that same month of August, 1864, the Confederate authorities did this: Finding that the Federal Government would not exchange prisoners at all; that it would not let surgeons go into the Confederacy; finding that it would not let medicines be sent into the Confederacy; meanwhile the ravages of war continuing to deplete the scant supplies of the South, already unable adequately to feed its own defenders, and much less able properly to feed and clothe the thousands of prisoners in Confederate prisons, what did the Confederates propose? They proposed to send the Federal sick and wounded prisoners with out equivalent. Now, sir, I want the House and the country to under stand this: that in August, 1864, the Confederate Government officially proposed to the Federal authorities that if they would send steamships of transportation in any form to Savannah, they should have their sick and wounded prisoners without equivalent. That proposition, communi cated to the Federal authorities in August, 1864, was not answered until December, 1864; and in December, 1864, the Federal authorities sent ships to Savannah. Now, the records will show that the chief suffering at Andersonville was between August and December. The Confederate authorities sought to avert it by asking the Federal Government to come and take its prisoners, without equivalent, without return, and it refused to do that until four or five months had elapsed. That is not the only appeal which was made to the Federal Govern ment. I now call the attention of the House to another appeal. It was from the Federal prisoners themselves. They knew as well as the southern people did the mission of Mr. Stephens. They knew the offer of Janu ary 24, for surgeons, for medicines and clothing, for comfort and food, and for provisions of every sort. They knew that the Confederate authorities had offered to let these be sent to them by their own govern ment. They knew it had been rejected. They knew of the offer of August 10, 1864. They knew of the other offer, to return sick and wounded without equivalent. They knew that all these offers had been rejected. Therefore, they held a meeting and passed the following reso lutions; and I call the attention of gentlemen on the other side to these resolutions. I ask, if they will not believe the surgeons of their hospi tals; if they will not believe Mr. Stanton's report; if they will not believe Surgeon-General Barnes' report, I beg from them to know if. they will not believe the earnest, heart-rending appeal of those starving, suffer ing heroes? Here are the resolutions passed by the Federal prisoners, the 28th of September, 1864: "Resolved, That while allowing the Confederate authorities all due 1548 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS praise for the attentions paid to our prisoners, numbers of our men are daily consigned to early graves, in the prime of manhood, far from home and kindred, and this is not caused intentionally by the Confederate Government, but by the force of circumstances." Brave men are always honest, and true soldiers never slander. They say the horrors they suffered were not intentional; that the Confeder ate Government had done all it could to avert them. Sir, I believe this testimony of gallant men as being of the highest character, coming from the sufferers themselves. They further resolved: "The prisoner is obliged to go without shelter, and, in a great por tion of cases, without medicine. "Resolved, That whereas in the fortune of war it was our lot to become prisoners, we have suffered patiently, and are still willing to suffer, if by so doing we can benefit the country; but we would most respectfully beg to say that we are not willing to suffer to further the ends of any party or clique to the detriment of our own honor, our fami lies, and our country. And we would beg this affair be explained to us, that we may continue to hold the government in the respect which is necessary to make a good citizen and soldier." Was this touching appeal heeded ? Let any gentlemen, who belonged to the "clique or party" which the resolutions condemn, answer for his party. Now, sir, it was in reference to that state of things exactly that Doctor Jones reported, as I have already read to the House, in his report which was mutilated before the committee of Congress and in the trial of Wire it was in consequence of that very state of things that Doctor Jones said that depression of mind and despondency and homesickness of these poor prisoners carried more to their graves than did physical causes of distress. That was not wonderful at all. But, Mr. Speaker, why were all these appeals resisted 1 Why did the Federal authorities refuse to allow their own surgeons to go with their own soldiers, and carry them medicine and clothing and comfort and treatment ? Why ? Why did they refuse to exchange man for man and officer for officer? Why did they refuse to stand up to their own solemn engagements, made in 1862, for the exchange of prisoners? Who is at fault ? There must be a reason for this. That is the next point to which I wish to call the attention of the House. Sir, listen to the reading. The New York Tribune, referring to the matter in 1864, said I sup pose you will believe the Tribune in 1864 if you do not believe it now: "In August, the rebels offered to renew the exchange of man for man. General Grant then telegraphed the following important order: 'It is hard on our men held in Southern prisons not to exchange them, but it is humanity to those left in the ranks to fight our battles. Every man released 011 parole or otherwise becomes an active soldier against us at once, either directly or indirectly. If we commence a system of exchange which liberates all prisoners taken, we will have to fight on until the whole South is exterminated. If we hold those caught, they amount to. no more than dead men. At this particular time, to release all rebel prisoners North would insure Sherman's defeat and would compromise our safety here." Mr. Garfield What date is that? Mr. Hill Eighteen hundred and sixty-four. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1549 Mr. Garfield What date in that year? Mr. Hill I do not know the day or month. I have read the tele gram which was taken from the New York Tribune, after August, 1864. Here is General Grant's testimony before Committee on the Exchange of Prisoners, February 11, 1865. You believe him, do you not? Question It has been said that we refused to exchange prisoners because we found ours starved, diseased, and unserviceable when we received them, and did not like to exchange sound men for such men. That was the question propounded to him. His answer was: Answer There never lias been such reason as that. That has been a reason for making exchanges. I will confess that if our men who are prisoners in the South were really well taken care of, suffering nothing except a little privation of liberty, then, in a military point of view, it would not be good policy for us to exchange, because every man they 8got back is forced right into the army at once, while that is not the case with our prisoners when we receive them; in fact, the half of our returned prisoners will never go into the army again, and none of them will until after they have had a furlough of thirty or sixty days. Still, the fact of their suffering as they do is a reason for making this exchange as rapidly as possible. Question And never has been a reason for not making the exchange ? Answer It never has. Exchanges have been suspended by reason of disagreement on the part of agents of exchange on both sides before I came in command of the armies of the United States, and it then being near the opening of the spring campaign, I did not deem it advisa ble or just to the men. who had to fight our battles to re-enforce the enemy with thirty or forty thousand disciplined troops at that time. An immediate resumption of exchange would have had the effect without giving us corresponding benefits. The suffering said to exist among our prisoners South was a powerful argument against the course pursued, and so I felt it. There is no disputing the fact that, with the knowledge that his prisoners were suffering in the South, he insisted that the exchange should not be renewed, because it would increase the military power of the enemy. Now, that may have been a good military reason. I do not quote it for the purpose of reflecting upon General Grant in the slightest. I am giving the facts of history. I insist that the Confed eracy shall not be held responsible for the war policy of the Federal Government, especially when the record proves that the Confederate authorities made every possible effort to avert these results. Nor do I allege inhumanity on the part of General Grant or the Federal Gov ernment. I have given you the facts and I have given you General Grant's interpretation of these facts. Let the world judge. Now, sir, we have authority upon that subject. Here is a letter by Junius Henri Browne. I do not know the gentleman. He signs his name to the letter. He writes like a scholar. He is a northern gentle man, and I am not aware that his statement has ever been contradicted. Now, what does he say? "New York, August 8, 1865. "Moreover, General Butler in his speech at Lowell, Mass., stated posi tively that he had been ordered by Mr. Stanton to -put forward the negro 1550 GEORGIA AND GEOEGIANS question to complicate and prevent the exchange. * * * Every one is aware that when the exchange did take place, not the slightest altera tion had occurred in the question, and that our prisoners might have been released twelve or eighteen months before as at the resumption of the cartel, which would have saved to the republic at least twelve or fifteen thousand heroic lives. That they were not saved is due alone to Edwin M. Stanton's peculiar policy and dogged obstinacy; and, as I have remarked before, he is unquestionably the digger of the unnamed graves that crowd the vicinity of every Southern prison, with historic and never to be forgotten horrors." That is the testimony of a northern man against Mr. Stanton. And he goes on: "I regret the revival of this painful subject, but the gratuitous effort of Mr. Dana to relieve the Secretary of War from a responsibility he seems willing to bear, and which, merely as a question of policy, inde pendent of all considerations of humanity, must be regarded as of great weight, has compelled me to vindicate myself from the charge of mak ing grave statements without due consideration. "Once for all let me declare that I have never found fault with any one because I was detained in prison, for I am well aware that was a matter in which no one but myself and a few personal friends would feel any interest; that my sole motive for impeaching the Secretary of "War was that the people of the loyal North might know to whom they were indebted for the cold-blooded and needless sacrifice of their fathers and brothers, their husbands, and their sons." I understand tliat Mr. Browne is a contributor to Harper's Monthly, and was then. The man, so he tells you, who was responsible for these atrocities at Andersonville was the late secretary of war, Mr. Stanton. Now, Mr. Speaker what have I proven ? I have proven that the Fed eral authorities broke the cartel for the exchange of prisoners deliber ately; I have proven that they refused to reopen that cartel when it was proposed by Mr. Stephens, as a commissioner, solely on the ground of humanity; I have proved that they made medicine contraband of war, and thereby left the South to the dreadful necessity of treating their own prisoners with such 'medicines as could be improvised in the Confederacy; I have proven that they refused to allow surgeons of their own appointment, of their own army, to accompany their prisoners in the South, with full license and liberty to carry food, medicine, and rai ment, and every comfort that the prisoners might need; I have proven that when the Federal Government made the pretext for interrupting the cartel for the exchange of prisoners, the Confederates yielded every point and proposed to exchange prisoners on the terms of the Federal Government, and that the latter refused it; I have proven that the Con federates then proposed to return the Federal sick and wounded with out equivalent, in August, 1864, and never got a reply until December, 1864; I have proven that high Federal officers gave as a reason why they should not exchange prisoners that it would be humanity to the prison ers, but cruelty to the soldiers in the field, and therefore it was a part of the Federal military policy to let Federal prisoners suffer rather than that the Confederacy should have an increase of its military force; and the Federal Government refused it, when by such exchange it would GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1551 have received more prisoners than it returned to the Confederates. Now what is the answer to all this? Against whom does the charge lie, if there are to be accusations of any, for the horrors' of Andersonville ? Mr. Bright What was the percentage of death in the prison 1 Mr. Hill I have already given it. I have proved also that with all the horrors at Andersonville which the gentleman from Maine has so ostentatiously paraded, and for an obvious partisan purpose of exciting upon this floor a bitter sectional discussion, from which his party, and perhaps himself, may be the beneficiary, greater sufferings occurred in the prisons where Confederate soldiers were confined, and that the percentage of death was 3 per cent greater among Confederate troops in Federal hands than among Federal soldiers held by Confederates. And I need not state the contrast between the needy Confederacy and the abundance of Federal supplies and resources. Now, sir, when the gentleman rises again to give breath to that effusion of unmitigated genius, without fact to sustain it, in which he says "And I here, before God, measuring my words, knowing their full extent and import, declare that neither the deeds of the Duke of Alva in the Low Countries, nor the massacre of St. Bartholomew, nor the thumbscrews and engines of the Spanish Inquisition, begin to compare in atrocity with the hideous crimes of Andersonville let him add that the mortality at Andersonville and other Confederate prisons falls short by more than three per cent the mortality in Federal prisons. Sir, if any man will reflect a moment he will see that there was a reason why the Confederate Government should desire an exchange of prisoners. It was scarce of food, pinched for clothing, closed up with a blockade of its ports; it needed troops; its ranks were thinning.'' Now, Mr; Speaker, it is proper that I should read one or two sen tences from the man who has been arraigned as 'the vilest murderer in history. After the battles around Richmond, in which McClelland was defeated, some 10,000 prisoners fell into the hands of the Confederacy. Victory had perched upon its standard, and the rejoic ing which naturally follows victory was heard in the ranks of the Con federate army. Mr. Davis went out to make a gratulatory speech. Now, gentlemen of the House, gentlemen of the other side, if you are willing to do justice, let me simply call your attention to the words of this man as they fell from his lips in this hour of victory. Speaking to the soldiers, he said: "You are fighting for all that is dearest to man; and, though opposed to a foe who disregards many of the usages of civilized war, your human ity to the wounded and prisoners was a fit and crowning glory to your valor.'' Above the victory, above every other consideration, even that victory which they believed insured protection to their homes and families, he tells them that at last their crowning glory was their humanity to the wounded and prisoners who had fallen into their hands. The gentle- man from Maine yesterday introduced the Richmond Examiner as a witness in his behalf. Now, it is a rule of law that a man cannot impeach his own witness. It is true the Examiner hated Mr. Davis with a cordial hatred. The gentleman could not perhaps have introduced the testimoney of a bitterer foe to Mr. Davis. Why did it hate him ? Here are 1552 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS its reasons: '' The chivalry and humanity of Mr. Davis will inevitably ruin the Confederacy."_ That is your witness, and the witness is worthy of your cause. You introduced the wjtness to prove Mr. Davis guilty of inhumanity, and he tells you that the humanity of Mr. Davis will ruin the Confederacy. That is not all. In the same paper it says: '' The enemy have gone from one unmanly cruelty to another." Recollect, this is your witness. '' The enemy have gone from one unmanly cruelty to another, encouraged by their impu'gnity, till they are now and have for some time been inflicting on the people of this country the worst horrors of barbarous and uncivilized war.'' Yet in spite of all this the Examiner alleged, "Mr. Davis in his dealings with the enemy was as gentle as a sucking dove." Mr. Garfield What volume is that? Mr. Hill The same volume, page 531, and is taken from the Rich mond Examiner the paper the gentleman quoted from yesterday. And that is the truth. Those of us who were there at the time know it to be the fact. One of the persistent charges brought by that paper and some others against Mr. Davis was his humanity. Over and over again Mr. Davis has been heard to say, and I use his very language, when urged to retaliate for the horrors inflicted upon our prisoners, 1 "The inhumanity of the enemy to our prisoners can be no justification for a disregard by us of the rules of civilized war and of Christianity." Therefore he persisted in it, and this paper cried out against him that it would ruin the Confederacy. I am sure I owe this House an apology for having detained it so long; I shall detain it but a few moments longer. After all, what should men do who really desire the restoration of peace, and to prevent the recur rence of the horrors of war ? How ought they to look at this question ? Sir, war is always horrible; war always brings hardships; it brings death, it brings sorrow, it brings ruin, it brings devastation. And he is unworthy to be called a statesman, looking toward the pacification of his country, who will parade the horrors inseparable from war for the purpose of keeping up the strife which produce the war. I do not doubt that I am the bearer of an unwelcome message to the gentleman from Maine and his party. He says that there are Confed erates in this body, and that they are going to combine with a few from the North for the purpose of controlling this Government. If one were to listen to the gentleman on the other side he would be in doubt whether they rejoiced more when the South left the Union, or regretted most when the South came back to the Union, which their fathers helped to form, and to which they will forever hereafter contribute as much of patriotic ardor, of noble devotion, and of willing sacrifice, as the con stituents of the gentleman from Maine. Oh, Mr. Speaker, why cannot gentlemen on the other side rise to the height of this great argument of patriotism? Is the bosom of the country always to be torn with this miserable sectional debate whenever a presidential election is pending? To that great debate of half a century before secession there were left no adjourned questions. The victory of the North was absolute, and God knows the submission of the South was complete. But, sir, we have recovered from the humiliation of defeat, and we come here among you and we ask you to give us the greetings accorded to brothers by broth- GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1553 ers. We propose to join you in every patriotic endeavor and to unite with you in every patriotic aspiration that looks to the benefit, the advancement, and the honor of every part of our common country. Let us, gentlemen of all parties, in this centennial year, indeed have a jubi lee of freedom. We divide with you the glories of the Revolution, and of the succeeding years of our national life before that unhappy divi sion that four years' night of gloom and despair and so we shall divide with you the glories of all the future. Sir, my message is this: There are no Confederates in this House; there are now no Confederates anywhere; there are no Confederate schemes, ambitions, hopes, desires, or purposes here. But the South is here, and here she intends to remain. Go and pass your qualifying acts, trample upon the Constitution you have sworn to support; abnegate the pledges of your fathers; incite raids upon our people, and multiply your infidelities until they shall be like the stars of heaven or the sands of the seashore, without number; but know this, for all your iniquities the South will never again seek a remedy" in the madness of another secession. We are here; we are in the house of our fathers, our broth ers are our companions, and we are here to stay, thank God! We come to gratify no revenges, to retaliate no wrongs, to resent no past insults, to reopen no strife. We come with a patriotic purpose to do whatever in our political power shall lie to restore an honest, eco nomical, and constitutional administration of the Government. We come charging upon the Union no wrongs to us. The Union never wronged us. The Union has been an unmixed blessing to every section, to every state, to every man of every color in America. We charge all our wrongs upon that "higher law" fanaticism that never kept a pledge nor obeyed a law. The South did not seek to leave the association of those who, she believed, would not keep fidelity to their covenants.; the South sought to go to herself; but so far from having lost our fidelity to the Constitution which our fathers made, when we sought to go, we hugged that Constitution to our bosoms, and carried it with us. Brave Union men of the North, followers of Webster and Fillmore, of Clay and Cass and Douglass you who fought for the Union for the sake of the Union you who ceased to fight when the battle ended and the sword was sheathed we have no quarrel with you, whether repub licans or democrats. We felt your heavy arm in the carnage of battle; but above the roar of the cannon we heard your voice of kindness, call ing, '' Brothers, come back!'' And we bear witness to you this day that that voice of kindness did more to thin the Confederate ranks and to Aveaken the Confederate cause than did all the artillery exploded in the struggle. We are here to co-operate with you; to do whatever we can in spite of all our sorrows to rebuild the Union; to restore peace; to be a blessing to the country; and to make the American Union what our fathers intended it to be the glory of America and a blessing to humanity. But to you, gentlemen, who seek still to continue strife, and who, not satisfied with the sufferings already endured, the blood already shed, the waste already committed, insist that we shall be treated as criminals and oppressed as victims, only because we defended our con-. victions to you we make no concessions. To you who followed up the 1554 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS war after the brave soldiers that fought it had made peace and gone to their homes to you we have no concessions to offer. Martyrs owe no apologies to tyrants. And while we are ready to make every sacrifice for the Union, even secession, however defeated and humbled, will con fess no sins to fanaticism, however bigoted and exacting. Yet, while we make you no concessions, we come even to you in no spirit of revenge. We would multiply blessings in common for you and for us. We have but one ambition, and that is to add our political power to the patriotic Union men of the North in order to compel fanaticism to obey the law and live in the Union, according to the Constitution. We do not pro pose to compel you by oaths, for you who breed strife only to get office and power will not keep oaths. Sir, we did the Union one great wrong. The Union never wronged the South; but we of the South did to the Union one great wrong; and we come, as far as we can, to repair it. We wronged the Union griev ously when we left it to be seized and rent and torn by the men who had denounced it as "a covenant with hell and a league with the devil." We ask you, gentlemen of the republican party, to rise above all your animosities. Forget your own sins. Let us unite to repair the evils that distract and oppress the country. Let us turn our backs upon the past, and let it be said in the future that he shall be the greatest patriot, the truest patriot, the noblest patriot, who shall do most to repair the wrongs of the past and promote the glories of the future. BENJAMIN H. HILL : DEFIANCE TO FEDERAL BAYONETS [Extract from an address delivered in Davis Hall, Atlanta, Georgia, on July 16, 1867, against the military measures of reconstruction. Mr. Hill, on this occasion, spoke in the presence of armed Federal troops, whose bristling bayonets and flashing sabers failed to intimidate him in the least. His denunciation of the military regime in Georgia was most withering, and as a masterpiece of fearless invective this wonderful philippic has doubtless never been surpassed in the history of free speech. Clad in full regalia, the Federal troops entered the hall, just as Mr. Hill arose to deliver his address, and occupied seats directly in front of the speaker.] What excuse can we offer to our posterity and to the world if we, in this day, with the lessons of history before us, allow free institutions to perish on this continent? We have not yet lived a century. It is but seventy-eight years since the Constitution was framed, and but ninetyone years since independence .was declared by our fathers, while the Commonwealth of Rome lived 400 years before the measures which produced her decay were proposed. What a spectacle! The best people, the richest soil, the most valuable productions, established as if by the providence of God as a new era in the history of the world, and bidding fair to be the shortest-lived of any free government in the history of nations. There is no difficulty whatever and I assert it without fear of con tradiction in discovering when and how a nation is dying. The great symptom is a disregard of the fundamental law. I charge before heaven GEORGIA AND GEOEGIANS 1555 and the American people this day that every evil by which we have been afflicted is due directly to a violation of the Constitution. Tinkers may work, quacks may prescribe, and demagogues may deceive, but I declare to you there is no remedy for us arid no hope of escape from the threat ened evils but in adhering to the Constitution. I have come to talk freely to you about the dangers of the country. I have no personal attacks to make on an enemy,"even if I have one. God knows, if I could, with my own hands, I would gladly place a crown of imperishable honor upon the brow of my bitterest foe, if I could thereby rescue my country from the perils that environ it! But, if I have an enemy and have a vindictive spirit and desire him to become forever infamous, 1 could ask no more of him than that he should support the hellish schemes of those who are seeking to subvert the Constitution and destroy our liberty. He is digging a grave for himself which posterity will never water with a tear. * * * It is my business to support the Constitution and my duty and pleas ure to persuade others to do so. Some of you who favor the acceptance of these military bills take an oath to this effect and still intend to vote for a convention which you admit to be unconstitutional. How is this? If you have a conscience I have said enough. Oh, I pity the race of colored people who have never been taught what an oath is or what the Constitution means. They.are drawn up by a selfish conclave of traitors to inflict a death-blow upon the life of the Republic by swearing them into a falsehood. They are to begin their political life by perjury to accomplish treason. I would not visit the penalty upon them. They are ^either legally nor morally responsible; but you it is educated, design ing white men who thus devote yourselves to the unholy work who are the guilty parties. You prate about your loyalty! I look you in the eye and denounce you. You are morally and legally perjured traitors. You perjxvre yourselves and perjure the poor negro to help your treason. You cannot escape' it. You may boast of it 'now, when passion is rife, but the time will come when the very thought of it will wither your soul and make you hide from the face of mankind. * * * Though an effort is being made to destroy us as Rome was destroyed, I believe the effort Mail fail. I have great faith in the Anglo-Saxon blood. I derive great encouragement from Anglo-Saxon history. Our liberty was not born in a day. It is not the work of one generation. It is the fruit of a hundred struggles. Often traitors have sought to substitute arbitrary will for established law; and often have the people for a time been misled. But thus far they have always waked up and called the traitors and factionists to account. Charles I trampled upon the Constitution. He had judges who de cided that his will was law and all who .resisted that will and defended' the Constitution were punished as disloyal. No doubt if you weak-kneed radicals of the South had lived in that day you would have said: '' The Constitution is dead, and we must consent to what we cannot resist." But John Hampden would not consent. He resisted. He was tried as a criminal for resisting and was condemned. But what was the sequel? The people finally arose in power. Charles and his ministers perished. The very judges that condemned Hampden were themselves tried and condemned as criminals; and the very officers, the sheriffs who executed 1556 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS the orders of Charles and his courts, were sued by the citizens for dam ages and made to pay nearly a million of dollars for executing the proc esses of an unconstitutional law. So Cromwell and his Parliament violated the Constitution and, though they also flourished for a season, they, too, were overthrown. So James II trampled on the Constitution, and had to fly his kingdom, a fugitive for life. In all these struggles good men for a time suffered and bad men for a time ruled, but the English race has never failed to rescue its chartered liberties from the power both of traitors and fanatics. I tell you the American people will not always be deceived. They will rise in defense of the Constitution and traitors will tremble. They who rallied 3,000,000 strong to defeat what they considered an armed assault upon the Constitution and Union will not sleep until a few hundred traitors from behind the masked battery of congressional oaths and deceptive preten sions of loyalty shall utterly batter down the Constitution and Union forever. I warn you, by the history of your own fathers, by every instinct of manhood, by every right of liberty, by every impulse of justice, that the day is coming when you will feel the power of an out raged and betrayed people. Go on confiscating! Arrest without war rant or probable cause; destroy habeas corpus; deny trial by jury; abro gate state governments; defile your own race and flippantly say the Constitution is dead! On with your work of ruin, ye hell-born rioters in sacred things, but remember that for all these things the people will bring you into judgment! JOSEPH E. BROWN: EULOGY ON ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS [Extract from an address delivered at the memorial exercises in At lanta, on March 8, 1883. Senator Brown was one of Georgia's most distinguished sons. Pour times elected governor, he occupied the execu tive chair during the stormy days of the Civil war. He afterwards became chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia and closed his illustrious career in the Senate of the United States.] No name has been longer or better known in public life or more uni versally honored than the name of the Great Commoner whose sad demise we meet to mourn. Whether as attorney at law, or as a member of the Legislature of his native state, or as a member of Congress, where his services have given him so much renown for so long a time; or as vice president of the Confederate States; or as governor of our own beloved state, he has been the same eloquent and able champion of constitutional liberty, local self-government and human rights. Even in his retirement, which was self-imposed for a time, his literary and historical labors on the same line, for the protection of human lib erty, have enrolled his name indelibly on a bright page in the Temple of Fame. His feeble, delicate form, worn down with disease, after a long struggle succumbed to death; but his gigantic intellect was brilliant and powerful during his whole career. The name of Alexander H. Stephens can never die as long as liberty dwells on earth, and intellect and virtue are honored by the good and the great. He was emphatically a good man as well as a great man. His sympathy was co-extensive GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1557 with the miseries of his race. He was always ready to minister consola tion in every case of .distress, and relief to the extent of his ability in every case of need. His life was devoted to the pleasure and welfare of others. He was the ardent friend of education, and did more than any other man who has lived in Georgia for the education of young men in need of assistance. But such was his modesty, that even his most intimate friends seldom heard him speak of what he was doing or suffering for others. He has left behind him a spotless character. He has blessed the generation in which he lived with a noble example. He has been, in the highest sense of the term, a public benefactor. His great intel lectuality, his distinguished patriotism, his acknowledged statesmanship, his profound philosophy, his accurate knowledge of human nature, his keen penetration into the future, his wisdom in council, his fidelity to principle and to friendship, his philanthropy, his sympathy for the poor, his relief of the needy, and his universal Christian charity, are qualities more to be desired, decorations of human character of greater value, than all the wealth of Croesus, or the glitter of the royal diadem, emblem, of absolutism, which sparkles upon the brow of the Czar of all the Russias. But our friend, true and cherished the friend of his race, so patient in his suffering and so true to every trust has been called from his labors that his works may follow him, and that he may enter upon his everlasting reward. Individually, I feel that my loss is irreparable. For more than a quarter of a century, he had not only borne to me the relation of a friend, but he was my bosom friend. I loved him; I hon ored him; I conferred freely with him. He was wise, and good, and great. But my loved and honored friend sleeps the long sleep of death, and I am left to mourn his loss. If the proprieties of the occasion per mitted, I could not trust myself to enlarge. I feel more like weeping than speaking. Friend, counsellor, companion he is gone, and I can see him no more in this world! "He was a man take him for all in all I shall not look upon his like again.'' Peace to his ashes; and, while his immortal spirit dwells with God who gave it, may perpetual blessings cluster around his honored name! GEORGE F. PIERCE: THE BIBLE [Extract from an address delivered before the literary societies of Emory College, Oxford, Georgia, July 19, 1842, during the annual commencement. It was subsequently repeated in substance before the American Bible Society, at a great meeting in New York, in 1844. Bishop Pierce was one of the foremost pulpit orators of his day and was known as "the Demosthenes of Southern Methodism."] Let us, then, teach the doctrine, apply the motives, and enforce the morals of this inspired volume, and the annual revolutions of Time's wheel shall evolve from these literary retreats virtuous citizens if not pious saints. As the Tree of Knowledge was the original instrument vol. in 19 1558 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS of temptation, let us remember in all our aspirations after learning that, as the society of the world approximates nearer and nearer to that state when men are governed by opinion rather than by law, it becomes more and more necessary that the process of education should become a living organism, instinct with the spirit and power of our holy religion. He who is best educated for the world to come is best educated for the world that now is. I would not displace any book necessary to be known; I would not substitute the Bible for everything else; but I would have it the groundwork and companion of the whole course. We talk of the expansive power of other studies, of their discipline, their scope, and their elevation; and true it is that the mind grows dwarfish or gigantic, according to the subjects with which it is familiar. If, then, you would set your seal to give the world assurance of a man, let him span the disclosures of Revelation, scale the altitudes of eternal truth, explore the depths of infinite wisdom,, and soar amid the glories of immortality, unveiled and spiritual; and then he will descend, like Moses from the mount, radiant with the light of high communion. In this treasured volume lies not only the mystery of mysteries, but in it is the oldest history history, past, present, and to come poetry, alive, breathing, bounding; philosophy, condensed but comprehensive, deep but clear, profound but intelligible. We wander with the geologist, book in hand, all delight; look upon the surface, dig through some few strata of the earth; enter some dark and curious caverns; scan the pre cipitous banks of some rushing torrent as it hastens to its ocean home; but this book plants us amid the angel groups as -they gaze upon the laying of the cornerstone of this material temple, and poises us over the heaving abyss where creative power is energizing, and wraps us in wonder and praise as the choral song of the morning stars breaks upon the cradle slumbers of the new-born world. We talk of the illustrious discoveries of science, and disport among stars and suns and systems; stand upon the outposts of telescopic vision, awe-struck with the amplitude of range; but this book stretches infinitudes beyond the orbits of astronomy, and leaving all calculation and measurement behind, dooms imagination itself to fold its wings in weariness; opens faith's interior eye; unrolls the scenery of judgment; sweeps off: our terrestrial habitation and the planetary glories that now bestud our sky; reorganizes the dust of the sepulchre; bids a new creation rise, redeemed man rejoice, heaven his home and eternity his lifetime. 0, tell me if a book like that can be read and studied, without a quickening impulse, without expansive views, without an upward, on ward motion. As well might the flowers sleep when spring winds her merry horn to call them from their wintry bed. As well might the sun beams lie folded in the curtain of night when "the king of day comes rejoicing in the East." As well might the exhalations of the ocean linger upon its bosom when the sun beckons them to the thunder's home. Away, away forever with the heresy that the Bible fetters intellect! It is the oracle of all intelligence, the charter of our rights, '' the day-spring from on high." What was the Reformation but the resurrection of the Bible? Cloistered in monastic seclusion, it lay for a thousand years, hidden, silent, and degraded. The dense vapors which went up from the fens of papal corruption shrouded in deep eclipse the lore of the world, GEORGIA AND GEOEGIANS 1559 and men groped in the gloom of a long and awful night. Intellect, smit ten from its pride of place, fell cowering in abject servility at the foot stool of power. Superstition shackled the multitude, and the spirit of liberty slept beneath its wizard spell. Opinion, panic-stricken by the thunders of the Vatican, hushed its trumpet tones and left the empire of mind to darkness and to Rome. .But, lo, in the cycle of years a change. The genius of Luther evoked the Bible from its retreat to disenchant the nations. It came, and breathing upon the valley of vision, its dishonored relics lived. It looked upon the sleeping sea, and the ice-bound waters melted beneath its glance. When from her dungeon gloom imprisoned Europe cried, "Watchman, what of the night?" the watchman said, "The Morning cometh.'' The ghosts of a mystic theology fled from the spread ing day. The gloomy prejudices which had stagnated all the elements of enterprise let go their barbarian hold, and the powers which had rusted for ages in iron sleep, emancipated, rushed -to the conflict, on the issue of which the destinies of the world were periled. Intellect, roused by the battle-shout, with new-found strength, burst from its thralldom, forged its fetters into swords, and fought its way to freedom and to fame. Yes, it was the Bible which presided over the revival of letters and unrolled the manuscripts of ancient wisdom for the perusal of the na tions ; it was the Bible that unlocked the prison doors of knowledge and bade her go forth to teach the people their dignity and their rights; it was the Bible that wrenched from the reeking jaws of a ravenous usurpa tion the bleeding form of mangled liberty, and restored her to the earth, healed and sound, a blessing and a guardian. When, in after years, denied a home by the despotic monarchies of the Old World, these ancient companions braved the wide Atlantic's roar, and together sought a refuge in these western wilds. Let the Bible keep alive the spirit of liberty among the people and the spirit of reverence for God, and the Republic is safe. Let lawless violence, or reasons of state, or an in triguing infidelity sequester the Holy Volume, forbid it to walk upon the unquiet sea of human passions, and the last hope of patriots and the world is gone. This young Republic, smitten in the greenness of her years, shall be stretched to the gaze of nations, a livid corpse, the scorn of kings, and none so poor as to do her reverence. Hear me, my country! Hear me for your honor and your perpe tuity ! Have done with your idolatry of patriotism, of talent, of govern ment your dependence on men and wealth and power! Away with your jealousy of the Bible, its influences and its institutions! Chris tianity is the vital spirit of the Republic, the richest treasure of a gen erous people, the salt of our learning, the bond of our union. Send religion and education in indissoluble wedlock to traverse the land in its length and breadth. Let the mother teach the Bible to her daugh ters, the father to his sons, the schoolmaster to his pupils, the professor to his class, the preacher to his congregation. Let the people read it by the morning's dawn and at evening's holy hour. Let the light of it gleam from the sanctuary, the college, the academy, and the private dwelling; and then will glory dwell in our midst and the light of salva tion overlay the land, as the sunbeams of morning spread upon the mountain. 1560 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS JOHN MACPHEESON BERBIEN : '' STAND BACK, IT Is NOT LAWFUL TO ENTER HERE." [Judge Berrien was termed "the American Cicero." This sobriquet was bestowed upon him at a time when Calhoun, Clay, and Webster were Ms colleagues in the United States Senate and when eloquence registered' its high water mark on this side of the Atlantic. Except for a few scat tered fragments, the great speeches of Judge Berrien are lost. The speech from which these extracts are taken was delivered in the United States Senate when Judge Berrien was quite an old man. It does not represent his eloquence in its splendid noontide of power, but it furnishes the best specimen of his style extant. It was delivered on February 25, 1845, in opposition to the annexation of Texas.] Mr. President: If there is no one who is disposed to engage in the debate at this moment, I will proceed as far as my strength will permit to discharge my own duty on this momentous occasion. And if I should be so fortunate as to gain the ear of the Senate, they must do me the favor to yield it to gentler tones than those by which it has been recently greeted. I have neither the inclination nor the physical ability to imi tate, in this respect, the honorable senator who has preceded me. No, sir. I would speak to you the words of truth and soberness, not languidly or coldly or without emotion, ..but in the spirit and with the feeling which may become an American senator appealing to the intelligence and to the patriotism of his associates. The honorable senator forbears to discuss the question of constitu tional power. He assumes that. Sir, it is always convenient to assume what it is difficult to prove and the senator from Ohio has profited by the observance of the maxim. He addresses himself, therefore, to the question of expediency; and the expediency of incorporating a foreign state into this Union is maintained on the ground that this incorporation is necessary to enable us successfully to compete with England for the commerce of the world. Broken as it is into fragments, in the progress of the senator's remarks, this is the head and front, the sum and substance, of the argument which he has addressed to the Senate. Without intending to scan the statistical facts which he has presented to us or to examine in detail the conclusions to which they have conducted him, I desire simply to inform the honorable senator and to remind the Senate that there is no single fact which he has stated, in relation.to the com mercial rivalry of Great Britain, which did not exist or might not with as little license have been imagined to exist, when the treaty for the annexation of Texas was under discussion as at the present moment. All the considerations which he has urged today in support of this joint reso lution existed then, yet that treaty was rejected by an unprecedented majority of the American Senate, not for want of power, but because it was unexpedient to ratify it; and the senator from Ohio concurred in that rejection. I prefer the first sober thought of the honorable senator to that which has grown, up after an exciting canvass, even enforced as the latter is by the thunder of his eloquence. But, sir, it is not expedient for me to do what, in my judgment, the Constitution forbids.' I may not therefore exercise my imagination in GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1561 picturing to myself or in representing to the Senate the brilliant advan tages or the alarming evils which may result from the consummation of this measure. Say that these advantages may realize the loftiest and most sanguine hopes of the advocates; say that the evils which are antici pated are but the phantoms of the imagination; concede that Texas is indeed a terrestrial paradise in which the South may repose in the undis turbed enjoyment of her peculiar institution, reveling amid the luxuries which a genial climate and a prolific soil combine to produce, still, sir, the boon, tempting as it would be, is denied me. I may not enter the portals of this paradise. The Constitution forbids it. I hear the warning voice of Washington admonishing me to beware, lest in the indulgence of sectional feeling I may contribute to break asunder the bonds of our common union. I hear and obey the stern, prohibitory mandate of the guardian genius of my country, '' Stand back! It is not lawful to enter here." WALTER T. COLQUITT-. "PAINT ANOTHER STAR ON THE FLAG FOR TEXAS." [Judge Colquitt was a great orator. But his achievements at the. bar, on the hustings, in the pulpit, and on the floor of Congress survive today only as traditions. He left behind him no speeches, the effect of which in cold type sustains his reputation or adequately reflects his genius as a prince of ante-bellum orators. This speech, delivered in the United States Senate, February 20, 1845, on the annexation of Texas, shows his political sagacity but conveys only a faint idea of his eloquence in debate. However, it is one of the few fragments which time has spared.] The senator from Louisiana has undertaken to prove that the acqui sition of Texas will be ruinous to Louisiana; but the logic which he employs is neither convincing nor commendable. The lands of Texas will be cultivated in sugar and cotton, whatever may be the fate of the measure which is now pending, nor will the protective tariff be able to avert the menace which he imagines. Moreover, the argument is entirely too provincial. If properly carried out the honorable senator would have no difficulty ere long in proving that he should be the only sugar planter in Louisiana. I would ask the honorable senator to elevate himself as a statesman to a point from which he can view the wide circle of our growing coun try, consider its origin and mark its rapid progression in population, prosperity and power. Cities, villages and towns are now seen thriving and prosperous where a few years since the wolf and the wildcat found safe and solitary retreats. The forest has retired before the onward march of civilization. The hills are crowned with orchards, the valleys wave with harvests, while railroads, canals and navigable streams' are laden with the products of labor and industry. From a mere handful of persecuted emigrants we have a country nourishing 20,000,000 people. The mighty tide of immigration, constantly swollen by increasing numbers, is now beating restlessly the base of the Rocky Mountains. "Will the statesman close his eyes to the condition of the country for a century to come and adopt the time-serving policy of' an hour, by refus ing a valuable heritage to posterity, for fear it may diminish the price 1562 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS of a pound of sugar and clog the sale of a quart of molasses? Such an argument can not have a feather's weight in the minds of the intelligent and patriotic people of Louisiana, who will look to the welfare of pos- terity, to the interests of their children and to the glory and power of their country. Cheap and fertile lands where the poor may find com- fortable homes and cultivate the arts of peace can not be made an argu- ment against the acquisition of Texas. The senator from Louisiana has fully satisfied us of his disregard to the opinions and wishes of his state. He seems to fancy that an obstinate adherence to his own will, in defiance of public sentiment, is an evidence of independence and firmness which will entitle him to admiration. For my own part, I shall neither laud nor sympathize with any man who becomes a willing sacrifice upon the altar of his own conceit. We are but the agents through whom the people govern themselves; and it can never be an enviable office for the representative to brand the people who have honored him and imagine that he gives evidence of his superior- ity by treating the intelligence of his constituents with contempt. But, sir, the most remarkable part of the speech which the senator has made was his ill-timed and unnecessary assault upon General Jack- son. The honorable senator from New Hampshire had alluded to the interest which the old soldier and statesman had taken in this great question, and urged the adoption of the measure at an early day that this additional consolation might be afforded him before-he passed to that "bourne from which no traveler returns." This allusion has not only been deemed a sufficient reason to charge the senator from New Hamp- shire with a want of self-respect and a contempt for the Senate, but as a justification for representing General Jackson as a poisonous tree, whose roots defiled the earth and whose branches spread disease and contamina- tion through the body politic. - I had not supposed that there lived through the length and breadth of this land one man who indulged such malevolence toward the tottering, declining, dying patriot. After having devoted a long life in the camp and in the cabinet to public service, when he stands on life's last plank on the grave's crumbling verge breathing the inspirations of eternity, the warmest affections' of his heart still clustering about the altars of his country, he dares speak to her counsellors in accents of remonstrance and love; and for this the senator from Louisiana denounces his admoni- tions as pestilential and poisonous. Is there another living man, no matter how bitter his enmity may have been in younger life, whose feel- ings have not been mellowed into kindness, who is not willing to forgive and forget the strifes and rivalries of ambition and strew flowers around the opening tomb of the dying hero and statesman? With him the whis- perings of earthly glory are hushed and even an enemy might forget his errors and remember only his virtues. Above all, the senator who repre- sents that proud city whose foundation stones drank the old soldier's willing blood, shed in her defense, should not, in the American Senate, and in the face of the American people, have so far forgotten himself and the people who have honored him, as to have spit his gall upon the character and feelings of their preserver and defender. General Jack- son, however, will not find it necessary to extract an epitaph or covet i .i H sli I ::|;| |s| is ........:i! :'|.|i| : i! -|.|'|:| .|j| i:i|i .'ill : ||| !l si |:|i| -: ::;;! is ,|i|i| is ii iiiii is ij s| iii |||i| ,:;J iiiii siii .: 1 s:s l.lllf' iili|| : ;|||| ill!!! illll . ill!! -I!!!!! 11111 ill!! ill!!! "Illll 'i Illll Jill! Illll Illll i iiiii!!!! "lllli GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1563 praise from his revilers; for his memory will live forever in the hearts of his countrymen. It will not only be a cause of joy to General Jackson to witness the annexation of Texas to the Union, but to thousands of others whose hearts like his rejoice in the wealth, power and glory of the nation. Let us at once, by decisive action, secure the half-alienated affections of this infant republic. How important is this acquisition to the West! How deeply interesting to the Valley of the Mississippi! How important to people our continent with kindred spirits who worship at the same altars of freedom and religion to press farther and farther the territory upon which a hostile foot can tread to secure forever national ramparts that will guarantee the nation's safety and peace! Sir, the people of Texas are our countrymen; they have been reared in our midst; many of them have been the companions of our childhood and the trusty friends of riper years. They have fed around the same board; played in infancy around the same knees, caught the lessons of patriotism from the same lips, and their hearts have been fired by the same love of freedom and independence. Texas is not a foreign country, but a dissevered member of our own confederacy. Her people are not strangers; they have helped to defend our own soil; they bear the scars of battle fought in sustaining the old banner. Bid them welcome as brethren to share with us a common heritage; and, by passing the reso lution upon your table, paint another star on our flag, under the wings of that proud bird which is the symbol of the nation's glory. L. Q. C. LAMAB: EULOGY ON CHARLES SUMNEB [Mr. Lamar was a native Georgian. It was not until reaching mature manhood that he removed to Mississippi. This address, delivered in the American House of Representatives, April 28, 1874, thrilled and elec trified a continent. It was the first real note of brotherhood sounded in either House of Congress, following the strife of civil war and the era of reconstruction. It was a difficult role which Mr. Lamar assumed on this occasion. He was a most intense southerner, standing for the timehonored traditions of his section. Mr. Sumner was an equally ardent New Englander. It was less than a decade after Appomattox. But such was the powerful effect of Mr. Lamar's speech tender, eloquent, mag nanimous, brave, and patriotic that he became the toast of the hour, and was universally acclaimed, North, South, East, and West, as the nation's peacemaker. He was subsequently sent to the United States Senate. Still later he became a member of President Cleveland's cabinet as secretary of the interior and finally closed his career on the Supreme Bench.] 'Mr. Speaker : In rising to second the resolutions just offered, I desire to add a few remarks which have occurred to me as appropriate to the occasion. I believe that they express a sentiment which pervades the hearts of all the people whose representatives are here assembled. Strange as, in looking back upon the past, the assertion may seem, im possible as it would have been ten years ago to make it, it is not the less true that today Mississippi regrets the death of Charles Sumner, and 1564 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS sincerely unites in paying honors to his memory. Not because of the splendor of his intellect, though in him was extinguished one of the brightest of the lights which have illustrated the councils of the Gov ernment for nearly a quarter of a century; not because of the high cul ture, the elegant scholarship, and the varied learning which revealed themselves so clearly in all his public efforts as to justify the application to him of Johnson's felicitous expression, "He touched nothing which he did not adorn;'' not this, though these are qualities by no means, it is . to be feared, so common in public places as to make their disappearance, in even a single instance, a matter of indifference; but because of those peculiar and strongly marked moral traits of his character which gave the coloring to the whole tenor of his singularly dramatic public career; traits which made him for a long period to a large portion of his coun trymen the object of as deep and passionate an hostility as to another he was one of enthusiastic admiration, and which are not the less the cause that .now unites all these parties, ever so widely differing, in a common sorrow today over his lifeless remains. It is of these high moral qualities which I wish to speak; for these have been the traits which in after years, as I have considered the suc cessive acts and utterances of this remarkable man, fastened most strongly my attention, and impressed themselves most forcibly upon my imagina tion, my sensibilities, my heart. I leave to others to speak of his intel lectual superiority, of those rare gifts with which nature had so lavishly endowed him, and of the power to use them which he had acquired by education. I say nothing of his vast and varied stores of historical knowledge, or of the wide extent of his reading in the elegant literature of ancient and modern times, or if his wonderful power of retaining what he had read, or of his readiness in drawing upon these fertile resources to illustrate his own arguments. I say nothing of his eloquence as an orator, of his skill as a logician, or of his powers of fascination in the unrestrained freedom of the social circle, which last it was my misfor tune not to have experienced. These, indeed, were the qualities which gave him eminence not only in our country, but throughout the world; and which have made the name of Charles Sumner an integral part of our nation's glory. They were the qualities which gave to those moral traits of which I have spoken the power to impress themselves upon the history of the age and of civilization itself; and without which those traits, however intensely developed, would have exerted no influence beyond the personal circle immediately surrounding their possessor. More elo quent tongues than mine will do them justice. Let me speak of the char acteristics which brought the illustrious senator who has just passed away into direct and bitter antagonism for years with my own state and her sister states of the South. Charles Sumner was born with an instinctive love of freedom, and was educated from his earliest infancy to the belief that freedom is the natural and indefeasible right of every intelligent being having the out ward form of man. In him, in fact, this creed seems to have been some thing more than a doctrine imbibed from.teachers, or a result of educa tion. To him it was a grand intuitive truth, inscribed in blazing letters upon the tablet of his inner consciousness, to deny which would have been for him to deny that he himself existed. And along with this all- GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1565 controlling love of freedom he possessed a moral sensibility keenly intense and vivid, a conscientiousness which would never permit him to swerve by the breadth of a hair from what he pictured to himself as the path of duty. Thus were combined in him the characteristics which have in all ages given to religion her martyrs, and to patriotism her self-sacri ficing heroes. To a man thoroughly permeated and imbued with such a creed, and animated and constantly actuated by such a spirit of devotion, to behold a human being or a race of human beings restrained of their natural right to liberty, for no crime by him or them committed, was to feel all the belligerent instincts of his nature roused to combat. The fact was to him a wrong which no logic could justify. It mattered not how humble in the scale of rational existence the subject of this restraint might be, how dark his skin, or how dense his ignorance. Behind all that lay for him the great principle that liberty is the birthright of all humanity, and that every individual of every race who has a soul to save is entitled to the freedom which may enable him to work out his salvation. It mattered not that the slave might be contented with his lot; that his actual condi tion might be immeasurably more desirable than that from which it had transplanted him; that it gave him physical comfort, mental and moral elevation, and religious culture not possessed by his race in any other condition; that his bonds had not been placed upon his hands by the living generation; that the mixed social system of which he formed an element had been regarded by the fathers of the republic, and by the ablest statesman who had risen up after them, as too complicated to be broken up without danger to society itself, or even to civilization; or, finally, that the actual state of things had been recognized and explicitly sanctioned by the very organic law of the republic. Weighty as these considerations might be, formidable as were the difficulties in the way of the practical enforcement of his great principle, he held none the less that it must sooner or later be enforced, though institutions and constitutions sbmild have to give way alike before it. But here let me do this great man the justice which amid the excitement of the struggle between the sections now past I may have been disposed to deny him. In this fiery zeal, and this earnest warfare against the wrong, as he viewed it, there entered no enduring personal animosity toward the men whose lot it was to be born to the system which he denounced. It has been the kindness of the sympathy which in these later years he has displayed toward the impoverished and suffering people of the Southern States that has unveiled to me the generous and tender heart which beat beneath the bosom of the zealot, and has forced me to yield him the tribute of my respect I might even say of my admiration. Nor in the manifestation of this has there been anything which a proud and sensitive people, smarting under a sense of recent discomfiture and pres ent suffering, might not frankly accept, or which would give them just cause to suspect its sincerity. For though he raised his voice, as soon as he believed the momentous issues of this great military conflict were decided, in behalf of amnesty to the vanquished; and though he stood forward, ready to welcome back as brothers, and to re-establish in their rights as citizens, those whose valor had nearly riven asunder the Union which he loved; yet he always insisted that the most ample protection 1566 GEOKGIA.AND GEORGIANS and the largest safeguards should be thrown around the liberties of the newly enfranchised African race. Though he knew very well that of his conquered fellow-citizens of the South by far the larger portion, even those who most heartily acquiesced in and desired the abolition of slavery, seriously questioned the expediency of investing, in a single day, and without any preliminary tutelage, so vast a body of inexperienced and uninstructed men with the full rights of freemen and voters, he would tolerate no halfway measures upon a point to him so vital. Indeed, immediately after the war, while other minds were occupy ing themselves with different theories of reconstruction, he did not hesi tate to impress most emphatically upon the administration, not only in public, but in the confidence of private intercourse, his uncompromising resolution o oppose to the last any and every scheme which should fail to provide the surest guarantees for the personal freedom, and political rights of the race which he had undertaken to protect. Whether his measures to secure this result showed him to be a practical statesman or a theoretical enthusiast, is a question on which any decision we may pronounce today must await the inevitable revision of posterity. The spirit of magnanimity, therefore, which breathes in his utterances and manifests itself in all his acts affecting the South during the last two years of his life, was as evidently honest as it was grateful to the feelings of those toward whom it was displayed. It was certainly a gracious act toward the South though unhappily it jarred upon the sensibilities of the people at the other extreme of the Union, and estranged from him the great body of his political friends to propose to erase from the banners of the national army the mementoes of the bloody internecine struggle, which might be regarded as assailing the pride or wounding the sensibilities of the southern people. That proposal will never be forgotten by that people so long as the name of Charles Sumner lives in the memory of man. But, while it touched the heart of the South, and elicited her profound gratitude, her people would not have asked of the North such an act of self-renunciation. Conscious that they themselves were animated by devotion to con stitutional liberty, and that the brightest pages of history are replete with evidences of the depth and sincerity of that devotion, they cannot but cherish the recollections of sacrifices endured, the battles fought, and the victories won in defense of their hapless cause. And respecting, as all true and brave men must respect, the martial spirit with which the men of the North vindicated the integrity of the Union, and their devotion to the principles of human freedom, they do not ask, they do not wish the North to strike the mementoes of her heroism and victory from either records or monuments or battle flags. They would rather that both sections should gather up the glories won by each section; not envious,' but proud of each other, and regard them a common heritage of American valor. Let us hope that future generations, when they remember the deeds of heroism and devotion done on both sides, will speak not of northern prowess and southern courage, but of the heroism, fortitude, and courage of Americans in a war of ideas; a war in which each section signalized its consecration to the principles, as each understood them, of American liberty and of the Constitution received from their fathers. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1567 It was my. misfortune, perhaps my fault, personally never to have known this eminent philanthropist and statesman. The impulse was often strong upon me to go to him and offer him my hand, and my heart with it, and to express to him my thanks for his kind and considerate course toward the people with whom I am identified. If I did not yield to that impulse, it was because the thought occurred that other days were coming in which such a demonstration might be more opportune, and less liable to misconstruction. Suddenly, and without premonition, a day has come at last to which, for such a purpose, there is no tomor row. My regret is therefore intensified by the thought that I failed to speak to him out of the fullness of my heart while there was yet time. How often is it that death thus brings unavailingly back to our remembrance opportunities unimproved, in which generous overtures, prompted by the heart, remain unoffered, frank avowals which rose to the lips remain unspoken, and the injustice and wrong of bitter. resent ments remain unrepaired! Charles Sumner, in life, believed that all occasion for strife and distrust between the North and South had passed away, and that there no longer remained any cause for continued estrangement between these two sections of our common country. Are there not many of us who believe the same thing? Is not that the com mon sentiment or if it is not, ought it not to be of the great mass of our people, North and South 1 Bound to each other by a common Con stitution, destined to live together under a common Government, form ing unitedly but a single member of the great family of nations, shall we not now at last endeavor to grow toward each other once more in heart, as we are already indissolubly linked to each other in fortunes? Shall we not, over the honored remains of this great champion of human lib erty, this feeling sympathizer with human sorrow, this earnest pleader for the exercise of human tenderness and charity, lay aside the con cealments which serve only to perpetuate misunderstandings and dis trust, and frankly confess that on both sides we most earnestly desire to be one; one not merely in community of language and literature and traditions and country; but more, and better than all that, one also in feeling and in heart? Am I mistaken in this? Do the concealments of which I speak still cover animosities which neither time nor reflection nor the march of events have yet sufficed to subdue? I cannot believe it. Since I have been here I have watched with anxious scrutiny your sentiments as expressed not merely in public debate, but in the abandon of personal confidence. I know well the senti ments of these, my southern brothers, whose hearts are so infolded that the feeling of each is the feeling of all; and I see on both sides only the seeming of a constraint, which each apparently hesitates to dismiss. The South prostrate, exhausted, drained of her life-blood, as well as of her material resources, yet still honorable and true accepts the bitter award of the bloody arbitrament without reservation, resolutely determined to abide the result with chivalrous fidelity; yet, as if struck dumb by the magnitude of her reverses, she suffers on in silence. The North, exultant in her triumph, and elated by success, still cherishes, as we are assured, a heart full of magnanimous emotions toward her disarmed and discom fited antagonist; and yet, as if mastered y some mysterious spell, silenc- 1568 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS ing her better impulses, her words and acts are the words and acts of suspicion and distrust. Would that the spirit of the illustrious dead whom we lament today could speak from the grave to both parties' to this deplorable discord in tones which should reach each and every heart throughout this broad territory: '' My countrymen! know one another, and you will love one another." 0. A. LOCHRANE: "STAND BY YOUR STATE, YOUNG GEORGIANS." [Extract from an address, delivered before the literary societies of the University of Georgia, during the commencement of 1879, by former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Hon. Osborne A. Lochrane.] Young gentlemen, I do not plead with you to live for wealth or sta tion. The most unhappy men on this continent are those who have sacrificed most to fill conspicuous positions. The heart-burnings and envies of public life are too often the results of ambition. What a sorrowful lesson of the instability of human grandeur and ambition may be found at the feet of the weeping empress at Chiselhurst. Just as the star of the prince imperial was rising to the zenith, like a flash from heaven, it falls to the ground. Just as he was gathering about him . the hopes of empire, the assegai of the savage hurls him to the dust. Born on the steps of a throne, amid the blazing of bonfires and the con gratulations of kings, he fell in the jungles of an African wilderness, without a friend to close his eyes. Born to rule over thirty millions of people, he was deserted by all, and went into the chill of death without the pressure of a friendly hand. Although royalty carried flowers to deck his bier and princes were his pallbearers and marshals knelt at his coffin and cabinet ministers bowed their heads and his, empress mother clung over him in an agony of grief, yet, alas, the glory of his life had vanished, and out of the mass of sorrowing friends his spirit floated away, leaving to earth but a crimson memory. Life's teachings admonish us that the pathway of ambition has many thorns and the purest happi ness oftenest springs from the efforts of those who sow for the harvest ings of peace and joy at home. And this lies at your feet in your own state. Although she has suf fered by desolation although millions of her property have been swept into ruins and thousands of her bravest have been hurried to their graves although Georgia has been weakened and bled at every pore although she has been impoverished and dismantled although she has been ridden through and trampled over by armies although she has seen in folded sleep her most gallant sons, and spirit arms reach to her from the mounds of battlefields she still has the softest skies and the most genial climate and the richest lands and the most inviting hopes to give to her children. And this is not the hour to forget her. The Koman who 'bought the land Hannibal's tent was spread upon when his legions were encamped before the very gates of Rome exhibited a spirit of con fidence and pride of country which distinguishes a great patriot. Al though disaster stared him in the face and from the Pincian Hill the enemy, like clouds, could be seen piled around, charged with the thunder GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS * 1569 of death and desolation, and the earth was reeling with the roll and tramp of armies, his heart was untouched by fear of her future. He knew that Rome would survive the tempests of the hour and that her future would be radiant with the splendid triumphs of an august pros perity, and confident of that future whose dawn he felt would redden in the East, he never dreamed of abandoning her fortunes or deserting her destiny. This was more than patriotism. It was the heroism of glory. It was the sowing of a rich heritage of example on the banks of the Tiber for the emulation of the world. One of the mistakes men make is in leaning without labor upon expec tations too sanguine, waiting for honors to pursue them, scarcely reach ing out their hands to gather the fortunes that cluster at their feet Well did one of the old poets of Salamanca express the thought: "If men come not to gather The roses where they stand, They fade amid the foliage; They cannot seek his hand.'' The rose of fortune which Georgia holds out to you is rich with hope and sentiment; and in its folded leaves are more honors for her sons than there are in the rose of England, the lily of Prance, or the nettleleaf of Holstein. Then, come together, in close and solemn resolve, to stand by her destiny, and soon the tide will run rich and riotous through the. jew eled arches of hope, flushed with her prosperity; soon will come into her borders newer and stronger elements of wealth; manufactories will spring up from her bosom and the hum of industry resound throughout her borders; the glorious names of her present statesmen will take the places of those who have gone up higher into glory, and will still hold her ban ner waving to the sky. Come, spirit of our Empire State come from your rivers that seek the sea from the waves that wash your shore and run up to kiss your sands; come from the air that floats over your mountain-tops; come from "Lakes where the pearls lie hid And caves where the gems are sleeping.'' Come, spirit of a glorious ancestry, from beyond the cedars and the stars; come from the history that wraps you in its robes of light, and let me invoke the memories that hang around you like the mantle of Elijah and will be the ascension robes of your new destiny; touch the chords in these young hearts these proud representatives of your future fame that they may rise in the majesty of their love and clasp you with a stronger and holier faith, and raise monuments to your glory, higher than the towers of Baalbek. Let them warm to the fires of an intenser love and brighten with the light of a more resplendent glory; and let them swear around the altar to be still fonder and still prouder that they are Georgians. As an adopted son, who has felt the sunshine of your skies, who has been honored with your citizenship and with positions far beyond his 1570 * GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS merits, I vow to the majesty of your glory, here in the temple of your fame, and to your spirit I would breathe out the fondest affection and pour prayers upon your pathway; I would clothe with light and bathe 'you in a rain of summer meteors; I would crown your head with laurels, and place the palm of victory in your hands; I would lift every shadow from your heart and make rejoicing go through your valleys like a song. Land of my adoption, where the loved sleep folded in the embrace of your flowers, would that today it were my destiny to increase the flood-tide of your glory as it will be mine to share your fortunes; for when my few more years tremble to their close I would sleep beneath your soil where the drip of April tears might fall upon my grave and the sunshine of your skies would warm southern flowers to blossom upon my breast. CHARLES C. JONES, JR. : ON THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ROBERT TOOMBS [Full text of an address delivered before the Confederate Survivors Association, of Augusta, Georgia, at its eighth annual meeting, on Memorial Day, April 26, 1886, by Col. Charles C. Jones, Jr., LL. D., president of the association. Colonel Jones was Georgia's foremost his torian, antiquarian and scholar.] Comrades and Friends: Mirzah saw in a vision a bridge, with a hun dred arches, rising out of a thick mist at the one end and losing itself in a thick mist at the other, spanning a portion of time, and with the great tide of eternity flowing beneath. Of the vast multitude essaying to pass over this pont de vie, not a single individual, at some stage or other of the transit, escaped falling through the uncertain flooring. Many there were who, indulging in mirth and jollity, unexpectedly lapsed into the dark waters. Others, looking up toward heaven with the signs of calm speculation and Christian resignation upon their coun tenances, stumbled and disappeared. Others still, pursuing baubles which glittered in their eyes and danced before them, lost their footing and were swallowed up by the flood. Others still, their foreheads wreathed with bays, rich, powerful, influential, and saluted with honor, were, in a moment, lost to sight. And some went down with swords in their hands; some with crowns upon their heads; and a few there were who, having hobbled on almost to the farthest arch, tripped and fell, one ofter another, in feebleness and silence, as though tired and spent after a long journey. As he looked upon the farther end of the cloudenveloped valley toward which the tide was bearing the generation of mortals, and ere the good genius had revealed unto him the vast ocean of futurity stretching beyond, divided by a rock of adamant, the one .part covered with darkness, and the other dotted with innumerable islands, peopled with beings in glorious habits with garlands upon their brows, vocal with the harmony of celestial music, beautified with fruits, flowers, and fountains, and -interwoven with a thousand shining seas, Mirzah his heart moved with deep melancholy exclaimed surely man is but a shadow and life a dream. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1571 But, my comrades, it needs no journey to Grand Cairo, or inspection of oriental manuscripts, to persuade us, on this Memorial Day, that_ "All flesh is grass, and all its glory fades Like the fair flow'r dishevel'd in the wind; Riches have wings, and grandeur is a dream; The man we celebrate must find a tomb, And we that worship him.'' The last twelve-month has been unusually lethiferous, and lessons of mortality ha.ve been rapidly multiplied in every station, in every land. Besides the unnumbered and the unrecorded dead falling like the leaves of autumn noiselessly and unheeded upon the bosom of Mother Earth, not a few there were, so famous in rank, fortune, literary attainment, and special service, that in descending into their graves they challenged public attention and evoked general sorrow. But yesterday, amid the tears of the French people, Pere Lachaise opened its solemn gates to receive into the close companionship of war riors and statesmen, prelates and artists, astronomers and dramatists, physicians, poets, lawyers, novelists, and philosophers whose fame envious time has not yet impaired, all that was mortal of the venerable and idolized Victor Hugo. Shadows are resting upon the German Empire, for the Baron von Manteufel, Frederick Charles the dashing Red Prince of many cam paigns the charming song-writer Franz Abt are not. x England laments the tragic fate of the gallant Burnaby, the unique Gordon, and their brave companions regrets that Sir Moses Montefiore, the noble Jewish philanthropist, has been gathered to his fathers, and scatters white roses over the new-made graves of Sir Francis Hincks and Lord Houghton. The gonfalons of Spain are drooping in honor of King Alphonso and the sagacious Serrano. The soul of music is even now breathing a requiem to Doctor Damrosch, and the Mussulman sits with bowed head, for the careers of El-Maohi and Oliver Pain are ended. Within the limits of this country, since our last annual convocation, the death harvest of prominent personages has been perhaps unprece dented. Ulysses S.' Grant, commander in chief of the Federal armies during the Civil war, twice President of the United States, and compli mented abroad with tokens of respect and distinguished consideration never before accorded to a living American; Thomas A. Hendricks, vice president of this puissant republic, of exalted statesmanship and manly qualities, a citizen of national fame and a Christian gentleman; Cardinal McCloskey, supreme prelate, in this land, of the Roman Catholic Church, venerated for his professional attainments, his charitable ministrations, and his saintly virtues; William H. Vanderbilt, the richest man in America, fostering commercial schemes of gigantic proportions, and the controlling spirit of immense corporations; Horace B. Claflin, the great est shop-keeper on this continent; Richardson, the wealthiest and most successful planter in the South; George B. McClelland, erstwhile the organizer of the Grand Army of the Potomac, a captain of lofty im- 1572 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS pulses, and a civilian of high repute; John McCullough, possessing a fine conception of, and manifesting a conscientious devotion to, "the purpose of playing whose end both at the first, and now, was and is to hold as 'twere the mirror up to nature,'to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure"; Richard Grant White, a capable scholar, a conscientious student, and an intelligent interpreter of the immortal lines of the Bard of Avon; Horatio Seymour, a lover of constitutional liberty, a genuine patriot, and well-qualified to fill the chair rendered illustrious by Jeffer son and Madison; Winfield Scott Hancock, a noble type of the warrior and statesman, who was '' wont to speak plain and to the purpose like an honest man and a soldier," whose escutcheon was never smirched even by the breath of suspicion; who, a't an epoch of misrule, uncertainty, and oppression, subordinated military despotism to civil rule and ac corded fair play to the vanquished; superb in person, head and heart, Father Ryan, the poet-priest of the South,' who sang so eloquently of the '' Sword of Lee,'' the '' Conquered Banner,'' and of '' the Land with a grave in each spot, And names in the graves that shall not be. forgot," all these, and others scarcely less-distinguished,-have, since our last annual meeting, passed into the realm of shadows, bequeathing memories of peace and war, statecraft and finance, literature and art, politics and religion, of no ordinary significance. Verily the harvest has been most abundant, and the insatiate Reaper may well pause at sight of the swath his remorseless scythe has made. Busy too has he been within the circle of our special companionship. During, the month of May three of our associates died Maj. Frederick L. Smith, of Kershaw's Division, Army of Northern Virginia; Sergt.Maj. Fee Wilson, of Byrne's Battery, First Kentucky Brigade; and Lieut.-Col. Joseph T. Armand, of the Thirty-seventh Regiment, Georgia Infantry. Private John Gallagher, of Company C, Forty-eighth Regi ment, Georgia Infantry, responded to the final summons.on the llth of July; and, on the 15th of the following August, our venerable comrade, Brig.-Gen. Goode Bryan, fell asleep. A graduate of the Military Acad emy at West Point, he was an active participant in' two wars. For gal lantry in the battles of Molino del Rey and Chapultepec he was promoted to a majority in the Army of Occupation. The Mexican campaign ended, he led the gentle life of a planter until summoned from that repose by the call of his native state. Entering the service of the Confederacy as the lieutenant colonel of the Sixteenth Regiment, Georgia Infantry, then commanded by that distinguished Georgian, Howell Cobb, he gave to the southern cause his loyal and unswerving allegiance. Shortly after the memorable battle of Sharpsburg in which, as colonel of his regiment, he bore a brave part, he was advanced to the grade of brigadier general, and assigned to the command of the Tenth, Fiftieth, Fifty-third and Fifty-fifth regiments of Georgia Infantry, McLaws' Division, Longstreet's Corps, Army of Northern Virginia. With this brigade he con tinued to share the perils, the privations, and the glories of that hitherto GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1573 invincible army until, on the 10th of April, 1865, it was, in the language of its illustrious commander, after four years of arduous service, marked by an unsurpassed courage and fortitude, compelled to yield to over whelming numbers and resources. All struggles, dangers, and uncer tainties ended, he rests with those he loved, and the flowers of affection, respect, and veneration are blooming above his peaceful grave. On the 12th of January last, another of our companions Capt. De Rosset Lamar was taken from us. He was an aide-de-camp at first to Brig.-Gen. Robert Toombs, then to Maj.-Gen. William H. T. Walker, and lastly to Brig.-Gen. Alfred Gumming. When General Gumming was wounded, Captain Lamar was assigned to duty with Colonel Roman, as an assistant inspector general. * * * Then, on the 15th of February, after a long illness, Private Eugene Connor, of the Washington Artil lery, found friendly sepulture in our Confederate section. * * * And, on the 18th of last month, Private William Teppe, of Company D, Fifth Regiment, South Carolina Cavalry, Butler's Division, Hampton's Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, responded to the trump which sum moned him to the bivouac of the dead. * * * Alas! the circle of our fraternity is narrowing. It will grow rapidly smaller as the years roll on; and soon, aye, very soon, there will be only silent graves to greet the sun as he ushers in the return of this Memorial Day. There is another name, high on the roll of the distinguished dead who have departed within the last twelve-month: a name promi nent in the annals of this state and nation; a name intimately associated with the memories of this region, and suggestive of much that was great and attractive; a name which should not be forgotten in the presence and on this occasion; a name borne by a gifted Georgian who, a lawyer by profession, a statesman by education, an orator by inspiration, and a citizen of marked individuality and acknowledged ability, for nearly half a century attracted the public notice, fascinated the popular ear, and, to a large extent, moulded the general thought. Aside from the prominent positions which he filled in the councils of this commonwealth and Republic, he was the first secretary of state upon the organization of the Confederate Government and, -for some time, held the rank of brigadier general in the southern army. To most, if not all of us, he was personally known. Meet it is that we render some tribute to his memory, In Wilkes County, Georgia, on the 2d of July, 1810, Robert Toombs was born. He came of good parentage and sprung from the loins of Revolutionary sires. In the schools of the neighborhood did he acquire his elementary education. His collegiate course begun at Franklin College in Athens, Georgia was completed at Union College in Schenectady, New York, where, in 1828, he received his degree of A. B. from the hands of that famous instructor, President Eliphalet Nott. Selecting the law as a profession, he repaired to the University of Virginia and there spent a year as a member of its law class. At school, at college, and at the university he was, by teacher and student, regarded as a youth of unusual promise and of remarkable intellect. His natural gifts were almost marvelous, and his powers of acquisition and utterance quite phenomenal. United with this mental superiority were a superb physical organization, a striking originality of thought and speech, and Vol. Ill--20 1574 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS social characteristics most attractive. Before he attained his majority he was, by a special act of the General Assembly, admitted to the bar. Opening an office in the Town of Washington, in his native county, he rose rapidly in his profession. Impressed by the ability evinced during his early efforts in the legal arena, that great Georgian, William H. Crawford, then the presiding judge of the Northern Circuit, prophesied for Mr. Toombs a career of marked distinction. To the pursuit of his calling, and to the establishment of a reputation enviable both within and beyond the confines of the courtroom, did he devote himself with great assiduity. In 1836, as the captain of a company of volunteers, he served under General Scott in an expedition for the pacification of the Creek Indians. The following year he was elected a member of the lower house of the General Assembly of Georgia. This position he held until 1840, and again during the session of 1842-1843. His views were bold, enlarged, emphatic; and his utterances eloquent, aggressive, and weighty. In 1844 he was, by an admiring constituency, advanced to a seat in the repre sentative chamber of the National Assembly. Here he made his debut on the Oregon question. In the judgment of Mr. Stephens, his first speech placed him in the front rank of the debaters, orators, and states men of that body. Educated in, and a firm disciple of, the Jeffersonian school of poli tics, Mr. Toombs then sympathized with the southern whigs. In March, 1853, he quitted the Hall of Representatives for a chair in the Senate Chamber of the United States. This he continued to occupy until the passage by Georgia of her Ordinance of Secession, when he withdrew from the National Assembly and cast his lot with the southern people in their struggle for a separate political existence. The public utterances of Mr. Toombs as a representative and senator from Georgia have passed into history. Among them will be specially remembered his speeches defining his position on the organization of the House in 1849 on the power of the House to adopt rules prior to its organization; on the admission of California, in which he arraigned the North for repeated breaches of good faith, and demanded equality for the South in the territories; and his speech in justification of the right of secession. His lecture delivered in Boston on the 24th of January, 1856, was carefully considered, and created a profound impression. On all these, and on kindred occasions, he exhibited wonderful physical and intellectual prowess. He was now in the zenith of his fame, in the full possession of his magnetic influence and kingly gifts fearless, honest, and marvelously eloquent. In the language of another, those who did not see him then can form no conception of the '' splendor with which he moved amid those dramatic scenes. A man of marked physical beauty, the idol of a princely people golden-tongued and lion-hearted the blood of the Cavaliers flashing in his veins and the heart of the South throbbing in his breast he recalled the gifted Miribeau who, amid scenes scarcely less fiery or fateful, 'walked the forum like an emperor and confronted the commune with the majesty o'f a god.' " He gloried in the whirlwind and caught his inspiration from the storm. As though born to kindle a conflagration, he inflamed by his wonderful power of speech and swayed by his electric fire. Like unto a Scythian archer scouring the plain, he traversed the field of argument and invective and, GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1575 at full speed, discharged his deadliest arrows. In forensic battle the wheels of his war-chariot, sympathizing- with the ardent and resistless valor of him who guided them, grew incandescent. Demosthenes, mingling the thunders of his eloquence with the roar of the ^Egean; Cicero, his eyes fixed on the Capitol, wielding at will the fierce democracy and inspiring all hearts with a love of freedom and an admiration for the triumphs of the Roman race; Otis, kindling a patriotic flame wherein "Writs of Assistance" were wholly consumed; "Warren, inscribing upon the banners of the Sons of Liberty '' Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God"; Henry, the "incarnation of Revolutionary Zeal," ringing the alarum bell and giving the signal to a continent; the impas sioned Barre, defending even within the shadow of the throne the claims of the oppressed were not more forcible in utterance, magnetic in action, or majestic in mien than Robert Toombs when contending for the privilege of free speech, or proclaiming the rights of the South as he comprehended them. The latter were paramount in his esteem. To their assertion was his supreme devotion pledged, best effort directed. Bold even to temerity in his assertions; in tone and manner emphatic to the verge of menace; by sudden bursts, savoring almost of inspira tion, essaying at critical moments to decide the fate of great questions; iconoclastic sometimes in his suggestions; he was nevertheless always true to the principles of exalted statesmanship, and loyal in the last degree to the best interests of the South as he forecast them. Mighty was his influence in precipitating the Confederate revolution. Most potent were his persuasions in inducing Georgia to secede from the Union. It was his boast that he would live and die an uncompromising opponent of the unconstitutional acts and assumed authority of the general Gov ernment. Upon his return from Washington, Mr. Toombs took his seat in the secession convention of Georgia, where he freely participated in its delib eration, and acted a conspicuous part. As a delegate to the Confederate Congress which assembled at Montgomery, Alabama, on the 4th of Feb ruary, 1861, and as chairman of the committee from Georgia, he was largely instrumental in framing the constitution of the Confederate States. Upon the inauguration of the Hon. Jefferson Davis as president of the Southern Confederacy, the portfolio of state was tendered to and, after some hesitation on his part, was accepted by Mr. Toombs. He was content to discharge the duties of this office only during the formative period of the government. His restless spirit and active intellect could not long brook the tedium of bureau affairs, or rest satisfied with the small engagements then incident to that position. In the following July he relinquished the portfolio of a department, the records of which he facetiously remarked "he carried in his hat," and accepted service in the' field with the rank of brigadier general. His brigade was composed of the Second, Fifteenth and Twentieth regiments of Georgia Infantry, and the First Regiment of Georgia Regulars. It formed a part of Longstreet's Corps, Army of Northern Virginia. To his imperious spirit, unused to subjection and unaccustomed to brook the suggestions and commands of others, the discipline and exac tions of military life were most irksome, and sometimes the orders ema nating from those superior in rank very distasteful. In open defiance 1576 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS of well-known army regulations he did not hesitate, on more than one occasion, to criticise, publicly and severely, military movements and instructions which did not commend themselves to his approbation. To such an extent did this show of insubordination obtain that he was suspended from the command of his brigade to await the determination of charges preferred. He resumed his command, however, at the mem orable battle of Second Manassas; and, at Sharpsburg, held the bridge with the courage and pertinacity of a modern Horatius. In the latter engagement he was wounded. In both battles he behaved with conspicu ous gallantry and received the commendation of General Lee. On the 4th of March, 1863, he resigned his commission in the army and returned to Georgia. General Toombs was not in accord with Presi dent Davis' administration of public affairs, nor did he acquiesce in the / propriety of some of the most important enactments of the Confederate Congress. Although his affections, his hopes, and his aspirations were wholly enlisted in the southern cause although he stood prepared to render every assistance in his power he reserved and exercised the right of passing upon men and measures, and of gainsaying the qualifications of the one and the expediency of the other where they-did not challenge his personal sanction. This attitude did not conduce to general harmony. Without hesitation he claimed and enforced the dangerous privilege of denouncing publicly what he disapproved, .and of freely deriding that which his judgment did not countenance. Such conduct in one of his acknowledged ability and widespread influence would have been more tolerable in a period of peace; but when a new-born nation, confronting difficulties the most overwhelming and struggling against odds without parallel in the history of modern wars, was engaged in a death-grapple for life; when all, repressing personal preferences and refraining from harsh criticism, should have been intent upon making the best of the situation and rendering full service in the common cause, his attitude, to say the least, appeared obstructive of unity. It was characteristic of General Toombs to measure men and laws by his own standard of char acter, excellence, and propriety. Beyond question that standard was bold, advanced, colossal; but in its application it was sometimes danger ous, above the common apprehension, and suggestive of rule or ruin. If the order or enactment, no matter how august the source from which it originated, or how potent the authority by which it was promulgated, did not coincide with his views of right or necessity, he did not scruple openly to criticise, to condemn, or to disobey. He was largely a law unto himself, and in some instances did violence to the expectation which, under circumstances then existent, might well have been formed with regard to the judgment and conservative action of one possessing his grand powers and overshadowing gifts. At the outset of the Confederate Revolution he apparently under estimated the determination, the martial spirit, and the resources of the North. So intent was he upon the unification of the Southern States, so eager was he for the immediate success of Confederate arms, that he did not refrain from denouncing the leaders upon whom, by any possi bility, the blame of hesitation, mistake, or defeat could be cast. He was an avowed enemy of "West Point, and ridiculed the idea, so generally entertained, of the superiority of officers of the regular army. As to GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1577 President Davis' ability to fill the exalted station to which he had been elected, General Toombs did not cherish a favorable opinion. The Con script Act; the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus; regulations restricting the planting of cotton; laws governing the impressment of animals and the collection of supplies for the army; and some orders of the executive and enactments of Congress he pronounced ill-advised if not unconstitutional, and lent no helping hand for their enforcement. The consequence of all this was that this distinguished Georgian, who^ occupied so prominent a place in public esteem, who was so richly en dowed, and who had been so instrumental in precipitating hostilities between the sections, did not, bello flagrante, in the advice given, in the support extended, and in the services rendered to the Confederate Gov ernment, fulfill the general expectation. Upon retiring from the Army of Northern Virginia he took service with the state forces of Georgia, and retained his connection with them until the close of the war. Eluding the pursuit of a body of Federal soldiery detached to com pass his arrest when Confederate affairs were in extremis, he fled from his home and succeeded - in making his escape to Cuba and thence to Europe. Upon the restoration of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus within the states lately in arms against the general Government, he returned to Georgia and resumed, with undiminished power and marked success, the practice of his profession. The angry billows of civil war were rocking themselves to rest. After the great storm there came a calm. Hate was giving place to reason, and no attempt was sub sequently made to execute the order for his arrest. The last political service rendered by General Toombs was performed by him as a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1877, which was presided over by our venerable fellow citizen, ex-Gov. Charles J. Jenkins. In framing the present Constitution of Georgia, General Toombs exerted an almost overshadowing influence. The suggestion and the adoption of its leading and, in the opinion of some, its questionable features, are to be referred to his thought and persuasive eloquence. His last public utterance, we believe, was heard when with tearful eye, trembling voice, and feeble gesture, he pronounced, in the Hall of Representatives -at Atlanta, a funeral oration over the dead body of his lifelong friend, Gov. Alexander H. Stephens. For some time prior to> his demise General Toombs had been but the shadow of his former great self. The death of a noble wife, to whom he was devotedly attached, proved an affliction too grievous for his declining years. The light went out of his home and gladness no longer dwelt in the chambers of his, heart. Impaired vision deprived him of the ability either to read or to. write except at intervals and with difficulty. His idols broken, his com panions departed, his ambition blighted, his physical and intellectual forces abated, he lingered almost alone in a later generation which knew him not in his prime. His splendid person, months agone, suffered impairment at the advance of age and the multiplication of sorrows, and the commanding presence gave place to the bent form and the unsteady gait of the feeble old man. His intellect, too, formerly so authoritative-,, massive, and captivating, became uncertain in its action. To the lastf however, he continued to denounce the reconstruction measures of Con- 1578 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS gress, and proclaim himself an " unpardoned, unreconstructed, and unrepentant Rebel." In the morning, at high noon, and even beyond the meridian of his manhood, he was intellectually the peer of the most gifted, and towered Atlas-like above the common range. His genius was conspicuous. His powers of oratory were overmastering. His mental operations were quick as lightning-, and, like the lightning, they were dazzling in their bril liancy and resistless in their play. Remarkable were his conversational gifts, and most searching his analyses of character and event. In hos pitality he was generous, and in his domestic relations tender and true. The highest nights of fancy, the profoundest depths of pathos, the broadest range of biting sarcasm and withering invective, generalizations of the boldest character, and arguments the most logical, were equally at his command. As a lawyer he was powerful, as an advocate well-nigh resistless. He was a close student, and deeply versed in the laws, state craft, and political history of this commonwealth and nation. In all his gladiatorial combats, whether at the bar, upon the hustings or in legislative halls, we recall no instance in which he met his overmatch. Even during his years of decadence there were occasions when the almost extinct volcano glowed again with its wonted fires; when the ivymantled keep of the crumbling castle resumed its pristine defiance with deep-toned culverin and ponderous mace; when, amid the colossal frag ments of the tottering temple, men recognized the unsubdued spirit of Samson Agonistes. In the demise of this distinguished Georgian we chronicle the depart ure . of- another noted Confederate, and this commonwealth mourns the loss of a son whose fame, for half a hundred years, was intimately asso ciated with her aspirations and her glory. He was the survivor of that famous companionship which included such eminent personages as Crawford, Cobb, Johnson, Jenkins, Hill, and Stephens. While during his long and prominent career General Toombs was courted, admired, and honored; while in the stations he filled he was renowned for the bril liancy of his intellectual efforts, the intrepidity of his actions, the honesty of his purposes, and for loyalty to his section; while his remarkable say ings, epigrammatical utterances, caustic satires, and eloquent speeches, will be repeated, it would seem that he has bequeathed few lasting monu ments. Among his legacies will, we fear, be found few substantial con tributions to knowledge. Scant are the tokens of labor which will perpetuate his name and minister to the edification of future generations. Trusting largely to the spoken word, which too often dies with the listener, he will live mainly as a tradition. Natural gifts so superior as those which he possessed, and opportuni ties so famous as those which he enjoyed, should have borne fruit more abundant and yielded a harvest less insubstantial. By permanent record of grand thoughts and great ideas he should have commended his mem ory more surely to the comprehension of the coming age, so that there might be no lack of '' historic proof to verify the reputation of his power.'' Enjoying a present fame as a legislator, a statesman, a counsellor, an advocate, an orator, a Confederate chieftain, a defender of the South, and a lover of this commonwealth, towering among the highest and the brightest of the land, this illustrious Georgian is also remembered as a GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1579 leader not always wise and conservative in his views as a mighty tribune of the people sometimes dethroning images where he erected none better in their places. , Thus we are reminded that the children of men, be they of high or low estate, be they rich or poor, be they intellectually great or of the common measure, .. "Are such stuff As dreams are made of, and our little life . Is rounded with a sleep." Although this is true, let us remember, my comrades, it is not all of death to die; that the actions of the just are not wholly swallowed up in the oblivion of the tomb; that there are virtuous memories which, at least for a season, are not coffined with our bones; and, thus persuaded, may we, one and all, heed the injunction of the great American poet: "So live that, when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan that moves To that mysterious realm where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death, Thott go not, like the quarry-slave at night Scourged to his dungeon,- but, sustain'd and sooth'd By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave Like one that draws the drapery of his couch About him and lies down to pleasant dreams." HENRY W. GKADY: "THE NEW SOOTH" [This celebrated banquet speech of the South's great orator-journal ist was delivered before the New England Society, of New York, at an annual banquet given by the society, 011 the evening of December 21, 1886, and was delivered in response to a toast: "The New South." Mr. Grady caught the ear of the nation in this wonderful speech and acquired a country-wide reputation both as an orator and as a peacemaker. Much of the speech was wholly impromptu, having been inspired by some remarks of Doctor Talmage, who preceded Mr. Grady on the evening's program. Until the delivery of this speech, Mr. Grady's reputation as a public speaker was purely local, and he was known to the world at large, chiefly through the columns of the Atlanta Constitution, of which he was then managing editor.] "There was a South of slavery and secession that South is dead. There is a South of Union and freedom that South, thank God, is liv ing, breathing, growing every hour." These words, delivered from the immortal lips of Benjamin H. Hill, at Tammany Hall, in 1866, true then and truer now, I shall make my text tonight. Mr. President and Gentlemen: Let me express to you my appre ciation of the kindness by which I have been permitted to address you. I make this abrupt acknowledgment advisedly, for I feel that if, when 1580 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS I raise my provincial voice in this ancient and august presence, I could find courage for no more than the opening sentence, it would be well if in that sentence I had met, in a rough sense, my obligation as a guest and had perished, so to speak, with courtesy on my lips and grace in my heart. Permitted through your kindness to catch my second wind, let me say that I appreciate the significance of being the first southerner to speak at this board, which bears the substance, if it surpasses the sem blance, of original New England hospitality, and honors the sentiment that in turn honors you, but in which my personality is lost and the compliment to my people made plain. I bespeak the utmost stretch of your courtesy tonight. I am not troubled about those from whom I come. You remember the man whose wife sent him to a neighbor with a pitcher of milk, and who, tripping on the top step, fell with such casual interruptions as the landings afforded into the basement, and, while picking himself up, had the pleasure of hearing his wife call out: "John, did you break the pitcher?" "No, I didn't/' said John, "but I'll be dinged if I don't." So, while those who call me from behind may inspire me with energy, if not with courage, I ask an indulgent hearing from you. I beg that you will bring your full faith in American fairness and frankness to judgment upon what I shall say. There was an old preacher once who told some boys of the Bible lesson he was going to read in the morning. The boys, finding the place, glued together the connecting pages. The next morning he read on the bottom of one page: "When Noah was one hundred and twenty years old he took unto himself a wife, who was" then turning the page "140 cubits long, 40 cubits wide, built of gopher wood, and covered with pitch inside and out.'' He was naturally puzzled at this. He read it again, verified it, and then said: '' My friends, this is the first time I ever met this in the Bible, but I accept this as an evi dence of the assertion that we are fearfully and wonderfully made." If I could get you to hold such faith tonight I could proceed cheerfully to the task I otherwise approach with a sense of consecration. Pardon me one word, Mr. President, spoken for the sole purpose of getting into the volumes that go out annually freighted with the rich eloquence of your speakers, the fact that the Cavalier as well as the Puritan was on the continent in its early days, and that he was "up and able to be about.'' I have read your books carefully and I find no men tion of that fact, which seems to me an important one for the purpose of preserving a sort of historical equilibrium, if for nothing else. Let me remind you that the Virginia Cavalier first challenged France on this continent; that Cavalier John Smith gave New England its very name, and was so pleased with the job that he has been handing his own name around ever since; and that, while Miles Standish was cutting off men's ears for courting a gir-1 without her parents' consent and forbade men to kiss their wives on Sunday, the Cavalier was courting everything in sight, and that the Almighty had vouchsafed great increase to the Cavalier colonies, the huts in the wilderness being as thick as nests in the trees. * But having incorporated the Cavalier as a fact in your charming little boobs, I shall let him work out his own salvation, as he has always GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1581 done, with engaging gallantry, and we shall hold no controversy as to his merits. Why should we? Neither Puritan nor Cavalier long survived as such. The virtues and good traditions of both happily still live for the inspiration of their sons and the saving of the old fashion. But both Puritan and Cavalier were lost in the storm of the first Revolution, and the American citizen, supplanting both and stronger than either, took possession of the Republic, bought by their common blood and fashioned to wisdom, and charged himself with teaching men government and estab lishing the voice of the people as the voice of God. My friends, Doctor Talmage has told you that the typical American is yet to come. Let me tell you that he has already come. Great types, like valuable plants, are slow to flower and fruit. But from the union of these colonists, Puritans and Cavaliers, from the straightening of their purposes and the crossing of their blood, slow perfecting through a cen tury, came he who stands as the first typical American, the first who comprehended within himself all the strength and gentleness, all the majesty and grace of this Republic Abraham Lincoln. He -was the sum of Puritan and Cavalier,' for in his ardent nature were fused the virtues of both, and in the depths of his great soul the faults of both were lost. He was greater than Puritan, greater than Cavalier, in that he was American, and that in his honest form were first gathered the vast and thrilling forces of his ideal government charging it with such tre mendous meaning and so elevating it above human suffering that mar tyrdom, though infamously aimed, came as a fitting crown to a life consecrated from the cradle to human liberty. Let us each, cherishing the traditions, and honoring his fathers, build with reverent hand to the type of this simple but sublime life, in which all types are honored, and in our common glory as Americans there will be plenty and to spare for your forefathers and for mine. Doctor Talmage has drawn for you, with a master's hand, the picture of your returning armies. He has told you how, in the pomp and cir cumstance of war, they came back to you, marching with proud and victorious tread, reading their glory in a nation's eyes. Will you bear with me while I tell you of another army that sought its home at the close of the late war, an army that marched home in defeat and not in victory, in pathos and not in splendor, but in glory that equaled yours and to hearts as. loving as ever welcomed heroes home! Let me picture to you the footsore Confederate soldier, as buttoning up in his faded gray jacket the parole which was to bear testimony to his children of his fidelity and faith, he turned his face southward from Appomattox, in April, 1865. Think of him as ragged, half-starved, heavy-hearted, en feebled by want and wounds, having fought to exhaustion, he surrenders his gun, wrings the hands of his comrades in silence, and lifting his tearstained and pallid face for the last time to the graves that dot old Vir ginia's hills, pulls his gray cap over his brow and begins the painful journey. What does he find let me ask you who went to your homes eager to find, in the welcome you had justly earned, full payment for a four-years' sacrifice what does he find when, having followed the bat tle-stained cross against overwhelming odds, dreading death not half as much as surrender, he reaches the home he left so prosperous and beautiful? He finds his house in ruins, his farm devastated, his slaves 1582 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS free, his stock killed, his barns empty, his trade destroyed, his money worthless, his social system, feudal in its magnificence, swept away; his people without law or legal status; his comrades slain, and the burdens of others heavy on his shoulders. Crushed by defeat, his very traditions are gone. Without money, credit, employment, material, or training; and, besides all this, confronted with the gravest problem that ever met human intelligence the establishment of a status for the vast body of his liberated slaves. What does he do this hero in gray with a heart of gold ? Does he sit down in sullennesa and despair? Not for a day. Surely God, who had stripped him of his prosperity, inspired him in his adversity. As ruin was never before so overwhelming, never was restoration swifter. The soldier stepped from, the trenches into the furrow; horses that had .charged Federal guns inarched before the plow, and fields that ran red with human blood in April were green with the harvest in June; women reared in luxury cut up their dresses and made breeches for their hus bands, and, with a patience and heroism that fit women always as a garment, gave their hands to work. There was little bitterness in all this. Cheerfulness and frankness prevailed. "Bill Arp" struck the key-note when he said: "Well, I killed as many of them as they did of me, and now I am going to work.'' So did the soldier returning home after defeat and roasting some corn by the roadside, who made the remark to his comrades: '' You may leave the South if you want to, but I am going to Sandersville, kiss my wife and raise a crop, and if the Yankees fool with me any.more, I'll whip 'em again." I want to say to General Sherman, who is considered an able man in our parts, though some people think he is a kind of careless man about fire, that from the ashes he left us in 1864 we have raised a brave and a beautiful city; that somehow or other we have caught the sunshine in the brick and mortar of our homes and have builded therein not one ignoble prejudice or memory. But what is the sum of our work? We have found out that in sum ming up the free negro counts more than he did as a slave. We have planted the schoolhouse on the hilltop and made it free to white and black. We have sowed towns- and cities in the place of theories, and put business above politics. We have challenged your spinners in Massachu setts and your iron-makers in Pennsylvania. We have learned that the $400,000,000 annually received from our cotton crop will make us rich when the supplies that make it are home raised. We have reduced the commercial rate of interest from 24 to 6 per cent, and are floating 4 per cent bonds. We have learned that one northern immigrant is worth fifty foreigners, and have smoothed the path southward, wiped out the path where Mason and Dixon's line used to be, and hung out the latchstring to you and yours. We have reached the point that marks perfect harmony in every household, when the husband confesses that the pies which his wife cooks are as good as those his mother used to bake; and we admit that the sun shines as brightly and the moon as softly as it did before the war. We have established thrift in city and country. We have fallen in love with work. We have restored comfort to homes from which culture and elegance never departed. We have let economy take root and spread among us as rank as the crab-grass which sprang from GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1583 Sherman's cavalry camps, until we are ready to lay odds on the Georgia Yankee as he manufactures relics of the battlefield in a one-story shanty and squeezes pure olive oil out of his cotton-seed, against any downeaster that ever swapped wooden nutmegs for flannel sausage in the val leys of Vermont. Above all, we know that we have achieved in these "piping times of peace" a fuller independence for the South than that which our fathers sought to win in the forum by their eloquence or compel in the field by their swords. It is a rare privilege, sir, to have had a part, however humble, in this work. Never was nobler duty confided to human hands than the uplift ing- and upbuilding of the prostrate and bleeding South misguided, per haps, but beautiful in her suffering, and honest, brave, and generous always. In the record of her social, industrial, and political illustration, we await with confidence the verdict of the world. But what of the negro ? Have we solved the problem he presents or progressed in honor and equity toward solution? Let the record speak to the point. No section shows a more prosperous laboring population than the negroes of the South, none in fuller sympathy with the employ ing and land-owning class. He shares our school fund, has the fullest protection of our laws and the friendship of our people. Self-interest, as well as honor, demands that he should have this. Our future, our very existence, depends upon our working out of this problem in full and exact justice. We understand that when Lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation, your victory was assured, for he then committed you to the cause of human liberty, against which the arms of man cannot pre vail ; while those of our statesmen who sought to make slavery the corner stone of the Confederacy doomed us to defeat as far as they could, com mitting us to a cause that reason could not defend, or the sword maintain in sight of advancing civilization. Had Mr. Toombs said, which he did not say, '' that he would call the roll of his slaves at the foot of Bunker Hill,'' he would have been foolish, for he might have known that whenever slavery became entangled in war it must perish,'and that the chattel in human flesh ended forever .in New England when your fathers not to be blamed for parting with what didn't pay sold their slaves to our fathers not to be praised for knowing a paying thing when they saw it. The relations of the southern people with the negro are close and cordial. We remember with what fidelity for four years he guarded our defenseless women and children, whose husbands and fathers were fighting against his freedom. To his eternal credit be it said that whenever he struck a blow for his .own liberty he fought in open battle, and when at last he raised his black and humble hands that the shackles might be struck off, those hands were innocent of wrong against his helpless charges, and worthy to be taken in loving grasp by every man who honors loyalty and devotion. Ruf fians have maltreated him, rascals have misled him, philanthropists established a bank for him, but the South, with the North, protests against injustice to this simple but sincere people. To liberty and en franchisement is as far as the law can carry the negro. The rest must be left to conscience and common sense. It must be left to those among whom his lot is cast, with whom he is indissolubly connected, and whose prosperity depends upon their possessing his intelligent sympathy and 1584 GEOBGIA AND GEOEGIANS confidence. Faith has been kept with him, in spite of calumnious asser tion to the contrary by those who assume to speak for us, or by frank opponents. Faith will be kept with him in the future, if the South holds her reason and integrity. But have we kept faith with you? In the fullest sense, yes. When Lee surrendered I don't say when Johnson surrendered, because I un derstand he still alludes to the time when he met General Sherman last as the time when he intended to abandon any further prosecution of the struggle when Lee surrendered, I say, and Johnson quit, the South became, and has since been, loyal to this Union. We fought hard enough to know that we were whipped, and in perfect frankness accept as final the arbitrament of the sword to which we had appealed. The South found her jewel in the toad's head of defeat. The shackles that had held her in narrow limitations fell forever when the shackles of the negro slave were broken. Under the old regime the negroes were slaves to the South; the South was a slave to the system. The old plantation, with its simple police regulations and feudal habit, was the only type possible under slavery. Thus was gathered in the hands of a splendid and chivalric oligarchy the substance that should have been diffused among the people, as the rich blood, under certain artificial conditions, is gath ered at the heart, filling that with affluent rapture, but leaving the body chill and colorless. The old South rested everything on slavery and agriculture, uncon scious that these could neither give nor maintain healthy growth. The new South presents a perfect democracy, the oligarchs leading in the popular movement a social system compact and closely knitted, less splendid on the surface, but stronger at the core a hundred farms for every plantation, fifty homes for every palace and a diversified indus try that meets the complex demands of this complex age. The new South is enamored of her new work. Her soul is stirred with the breath of a new life. The light of a 'grander day is falling fair on her face. She is thrilling with the consciousness of growing power and prosperity. As she stands upright, full-statured and equal among the people of the earth, breathing the keen air and looking out upon the expanded horizon, she understands that her emancipation came because, through the inscrutable wisdom of God, her honest purposes were crossed and her brave armies were beaten. This is said in no spirit of time-serving or apology. The South has nothing for which to apologize. She believes that the late struggle between the states was war and not rebellion; revolution and not con spiracy; and that her convictions were as honest as yours. I should be unjust to the dauntless spirit of the South and to my own convictions if I did not make this plain in this presence. The South has nothing to take back. In my native Town of Athens is a monument that crowns its central hill a plain, white shaft. Deep cut into its shining side is a name dear to me above the names of men that of a brave and simple man, who died in brave and simple faith. Not for all the glories of New England, from Plymouth Rock all the way, would I exchange the her itage he left me in his soldier's death. To the foot of that shaft I shall send my children's children to reverence him who ennobled their name with his heroic blood. But sir, speaking from the shadow of that memory GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS' 1585 which I honor as I do nothing else on earth, I say that the cause in which he suffered and for which he gave his life was adjudged by higher and fuller wisdom than his or mine, and I am glad that the omniscient God held the balance of battle in his almighty hand and that human slavery was swept forever from American soil the American Union saved from the wreck of war. This message, Mr. President, comes to you from consecrated ground. Every foot of soil about the city in which I live is as sacred as a battle ground of the Republic. Every hill that invests it is hallowed to you by the blood of your brothers who died for your victory, and doubly hal lowed to us by the blow of those who died hopeless, but undaunted, in defeat sacred soil to all of us rich with memories that make us purer and stronger and better; silent but staunch witness in its red desola tion to the matchless valor of American hearts'and the deathless glory of American arms, speaking an eloquent witness in its white peace and prosperity to the indissoluble Union of American states and the inde structible brotherhood of the American people! Now, what answer has New England to this message ? Will she per mit the prejudice of war to remain in the hearts of the conquerors, when it has died in the hearts of the conquered ? Will she transmit this preju dice to the next generation, that in their hearts who never felt the gen erous ardor of conflict it may perpetuate itself ? Will she withhold, save in strained courtesy, the hand which straight from his soldier's heart Grant offered to Lee at Appomattox? Will she make the vision of a restored and happy people, which gathered about the couch of your dying captain, filling his heart with grace, touching his lips with praise, and glorifying his path to the grave will she make this vision on which the last sigh of his expiring soul breathed a benediction, a cheat and a delusion? If she does, the South, never abject in asking for comrade ship, must accept with dignity its refusal; but if she does not decline to accept in frankness and sincerity this message of good-will and friend ship, then will the prophecy of Webster delivered in this very society forty years ago, amid tremendous applause, become true, be verified in its fullest sense, when he said: '' Standing hand to hand and clasping hands, we should remain united as we have been for sixty years, citizens of the same country, members of the same government, united all, united now, and united forever.'' There have been difficulties, contentions, and controversies, but I tell you that in my judgment "Those opened eyes *. Which like the meteors of a troubled heaven, All of one nature, of one substance bred, Did lately meet in th' intestine shock, Shall now, in mutual, well-beseeming ranks, March all one way." J. C. C. BLACK: ON THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF BENJAMIN H. HILL, [Seldom, if ever, in the history of this country, has a monument been unveiled amid circumstances more replete with dramatic interest. ExPresident Jefferson Davis, the Confederacy's first, last, and only presi dent, for years a recluse, declining every invitation to appear in public, 1586 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS nevertheless journeyed from, his home in Mississippi to be Georgia's honored guest on this occasion and to pay a tribute of respect to his beloved compatriot and friend. Just as the exercises commenced, Gen eral Longstreet, clad in his Confederate uniform, appeared upon the scene, to be greeted by his old chieftain with outstretched arms. For the moment political animosities were forgotten, and there rose from the tumultuous throng a wild shout of enthusiasm. ' Major Black's oration was a masterpiece of eloquence, unsurpassed by any similar effort of this character. It was delivered in Atlanta, Georgia, May 1, 1886. Subse quently the monument was removed from its original site, at the inter section of the two Peachtrees, to the corridors of the state capitol, where it today stands.] Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: History has furnished but one perfect character, humanity has but one example, in all things worthy of imitation. And yet all ages and countries have recognized that those who, devoting themselves to the public service, have led the people through great perils, and, by distinguished careers, added to the just renown of their country, were entitled to their highest respect, honor, and veneration. The children of Israel wept for their great leader and deliverer on the Plains of Moab. The men of Athens gathered at the graves of those who fell at Marathon, and pronounced panegyrics upon them. This sentiment is an honor to the living as well as to the dead. It is just, for no merely human pursuit is higher than that public service which honestly and intelligently devotes itself to the common weal. There is no study more worthy' of the highest faculties of the mind than that which seeks after the nature of civil government, applies it to its legiti mate uses and ends, and properly limits its powers. No object is more worthy of the noblest philanthropy of the heart than society and the state. It is not only honorable and just but, like all high sentiment, it is useful for honors to the dead are incentives to the living. Monuments to our great and good should be multiplied. May I take the liberty on this occasion of suggesting to the bar and people of the state to provide a fitting memorial to the distinguished chief justice who so long presided over our Supreme Court; whose decisions are such splendid specimens of judicial research and learning, and whose career recalls Wharton's picture of Nottingham "seated upon his throne with a ray of glory about his head, his ermine without spot or blemish, his balance in his right hand, mercy on his left, splendor and brightness at his feet, and his tongue dispensing truth, goodness, virtue and justice to mankind." And by its side, and worthy of such association, another to commemorate the sturdy chief justice who has recently passed from among us. The public disposition to honor the dead too often finds its only expression in the resolutions of public assemblies, and the exhibi tion in public places of emblems of mourning, soon to be removed. "And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.'' Too often the great and good lie in unknown sepulchres; or, if known, they are marked by no lasting monument. When the feeling does crys tallize in enduring marble or granite, in most cases, it is after painful effort and long delay. Eighteen years elapsed after the laying of the -.GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1587 cornerstone of the Bunker Hill monument, erected by the patriotism of New England, before its completion was celebrated. The statue of Chief Justice Marshall, appointed during the second administration, was un veiled during a very recent period. Immediately after his death, in 1799, Congress voted a marble monument to Washington. Half a century elapsed before the foundation was laid. After this, for seven and thirty years, it remained unfinished. Although intended to commemorate the life and character of him who was "first in the hearts of his country men, '' and had just claims upon the treasury of the Government, it stood as if insulting him whom it should have honored, symbol of nothing but the ingratitude of the country, prophecy of nothing but a broken Constitution, a divided people, and a disrupted Union. Its completion was not celebrated until the 21st day of February, 1885 more than three-quarters of a century after the resolution of Congress voting it. The history of these similar organizations marks with peculiar emphasis that of the association whose completed work we are here to celebrate with becoming ceremony. Amid profound and universal expressions of grief at the public calamity to the country inflicted by his death on the 16th day of August, 1882, his body was buried to await the dawn of that resurrection day of which he so beautifully wrote after he could no longer speak. Within a few days after his burial, a public meeting was called to assem ble in the state capitol, on the 29th of August thereafter. That meeting resolved itself into an organization that undertook the patriotic duty of commemorating his public life by some fit and enduring memorial. The success, brilliant as his own resplendent career, which calls us together within less than half a decade after its inauguration to crown the com pletion of its work, is highly honorable to those who have achieved it, but most honorable to him who inspired it. It has few, if any, parallels. It is in itself a more fitting and eloquent oration than human language can pronounce, for that may speak in exaggerated phrase of the worth of the dead and the sorrow of the living; this is Love's own tribute; this is Grief's truthful expression. As we come to dedicate this statue in his name and memory, all the surroundings are most auspicious. No place could have preferred a claim above this. It was his own home; it is the capital of the state, and his fame is a common heritage. The progressive spirit that has already made this populous and growing city the pride of every citizen, the wonder of every stranger, shall furnish opportunity to speak, as it shall speak, to the largest number of beholders. It is the time, too, when all over this southern land,-in the observance of a custom that should be perpetuated, fair women and brave men pay tribute to our dead. May we not think of the spirits of our honored dead who preceded him in our history, as well as those of his worthy contemporaries, coming from that world where no uncharity misjudges, no prejudice binds, no jealousy suspicions, to hover over us, and rejoice in the tributes of this day. And, surely, if the honor which this occasion pays the dead could be enhanced, or the joy which it imparts to the living could be heightened by human presence, we have that augmented honor, and that elevated joy in the presence of one worthily ranked among the most renowned of the living, whose strength of devotion to our lamented dead has overcome the infirmi- 1588 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS ties of age and the weariness of travel, and who comes to mingle his praises with ours. [Ex-President Davis.] Illustrious son of the South, thy silent presence is loftier tribute than spoken oration, or marble statue, or assembled thousands. Alas! Alas! We this day mourn the silence of the only tongue that could fittingly and adequately voice the honor we would confer upon thee. Beside the grave of him who never swerved in his devotion to thee and the cause of which thou wert and art the worthy representative, we this day acknowledge thy just claim upon the confidence, love, esteem, and veneration of ourselves and our pos terity. May these auspicious surroundings help us to commemorate the life and character of him in whose honor we are assembled, and move us with the higher purposes of devotion to our state and country that life and character inspire. As a son of Georgia he eminently merits this enduring memorial and all the honors conferred by this vast concourse of his grateful and admir ing countrymen. Born upon her soil, reared among her people, educated at her schools, permeated by the influences of her society and civilization, he plead with an eloquence unsurpassed by any of her sons for whatever would promote her weal, and warned against every danger his sagacious eye detected threatening her prosperity. Called into public service at an early age, he at once gave assurance of the high distinction he afterwards attained. For years his public career was a struggle against prevailing principles and policies he believed to be dangerous, and he stood con spicuous against as powerful a combination of ability and craft as ever ruled in the politics of any state. Upon every field where her proudest gladiators met, he stood the peer of the knightliest. He did not always achieve popular success, but that has been true of the greatest and best. His apparent failures to achieve victory only called for a renewal of the struggle with unbroken spirit and purpose. Failure he did not suffer, for his very defeats were victories. To say, as may be justly said, that he was conspicuous among those who made our history for thirty years, is high encomium. During that period the most memorable events of our past have transpired. It recalls, besides his owri, the names and careers of Stephens, Toonibs, the Cobbs, Johnson and Jenkins. In what sky has brighter galaxy ever shone ? The statesmanship, the oratory, the public and private virtue it exhibits, should swell every breast with patriotic pride. In some of the highest qualifications of leadership, none of his day surpassed him. He did not seek success by the schemes of hidden caucus or crafty manipulation. He won his triumphs on the arena of fair, open debate before the people. As an earnest student of public questions, he boldly proclaimed his conclusions. The power of opposing majorities did not deter him. As a leader of minorities he was unequaled. As an orator at the forum, before a popular assembly or con vention, in the House of Eepresentatives or in the Senate Chamber in Congress, he was the acknowledged equal of the.greatest men who have illustrated our state and national history for a quarter of a century. He was thoroughly equipped with a masterly logic, a captivating elo quence, a burning invective, a power of denunciation, with every weapon in the' armory of spoken or written language, and used all with a force and skill that entitled him as a debater to the highest distinction. While the most unfriendly criticism cannot deny him the rarest gifts GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1589 of oratory, some have withheld from him the praise due to that calm judgment that looks at results; that political foresight that belongs to a wise statesmanship. Judged by this just standard, who among the dis tinguished sons of Georgia in that period when her people most needed that judgment and sagacity is entitled to a higher honor? "Who more clearly foresaw in the clouds that necked our political sky the storm that was coming 1 What watchman stationed to signal the approach of danger had more far-reaching vision? "What pilot charged with the guidance of the Ship of State struggled more earnestly to guide it into, clearer skies and calmer seas? With that devotion to the Union that always characterized him, and believing that the wrongs of which we justly com plained could be better redressed in than out of the Union, or had better be borne than the greater evils that would follow dissolution, he opposed the secession of the state. We may not now undertake to trace the opera tion of the causes that brought about that event. We can justly appre ciate how it could not appear to others as it did to us. As to us, it was not prompted by hatred of the Union resting in the consent of the people and governed by the Constitution of our fathers. It was not intended to subvert the vital principles of the Government they founded, but to perpetuate them. The government of the new did not differ in its form or any of its essential principles from the old Confederacy. The constitutions were the same, except for such changes as the wisdom of experience suggested. The Southern Confederacy contemplated no in vasion or conquest. Its chief cornerstone was not African slavery. Its foundations were laid in the doctrines of the fathers of the Republic, and the chief cornerstone was the essential fundamental principle of free government, that all governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. Its purpose was not to perpetuate the slavery of the black race, but to preserve the liberty of the white race of the South. It was another Declaration of American Independence. In the purity of their motives, in the loftiness of their patriotism, in their love of liberty, they who declared and maintained the first were not worthier than they who declared, and failed in, the last. Animated by such pur poses, aspiring to such a destiny, feeling justified then and without shame now we entered upon that movement. It was opposed by war on the South and her people. What was the South and who were her people ? There are those who seem to think that she nurtured an Upas whose very shade blighted wherever it fell, and made her civilization inferior. What was that civ ilization? Let its products as seen in the people it produced, and the character and history of that people, answer. Where do you look for the civilization of "a people 1 In their history, in their achievements, in their institutions, in their character, in their men and women, in their love of liberty and country, in their fear of God, in their contributions to the progress of society and the race. Measured by this high standard, where was there a grander and nobler civilization than hers? Where has there been greater love of learning than that which established her col leges and universities? Where better preparatory schools, sustained by private patronage, and not the exactions of the tax-gatherer now un happily dwarfed and well-nigh blighted by our modern system ? Whose people had higher sense of personal honor? Whose business and com- Vol. Ill--21 1590 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS merce was controlled by higher integrity? Whose public men had cleaner hands and purer records ? Whose soldiers were braver or knightlier? Whose orators more eloquent and persuasive? Whose statesmen more wise and conservative 1 Whose young men.more chivalric? Whose young women more chaste? Whose fathers and mothers worthier exam ples? Whose homes more abounded in hospitality as genial and free to every friendly comer as the sun that covered them with its splendor? Where was there more respect for woman, for the church, for the Sab bath, for God, for the law which, next to God, is entitled to the highest respect and veneration of man, for it is the fittest representative of his awful majesty and power and goodness? Where was there more love of home, of country, and of liberty ? Deriving their theories of government from the Constitution, her public officers never abandoned those principles upon which alone the Government could stand. Esteeming their public virtue as highly as their private honor, they watched and exposed every form of extrava gance, and every approach of corruption. Her religious teachers, deriv ing their theology from the Bible, guarded the church from being- spoiled "through philosophy and vain deceit .after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.'' Her women adorned the highest social circles of Europe and America with their modesty, beauty, and culture. Her men, in every society, won a higher title than the "grand old name of gentleman" that of "Southern gentleman." Thus in herself, what contributions did she make to the material growth of the country? Look at the map of that country and see the five states formed out of the territory north of the Ohio azid east of the Mississippi generously and patriotically surrendered by Virginia. Look at that vast extent of country acquired under the administration of one of her presi dents, which today constitutes the states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Mis souri, Iowa/ Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota west of the Mississippi, Colo rado north of the Arkansas, besides the Indian Territory and the terri tories of Dakota, Wyoming and Montana? Is it asked, what has she added to the glories of the Republic ? Who wrote the Declaration of Independence ? Jefferson. Who led the armies of the Republic in maintaining and establishing that independence ? Who gave mankind new ideas of greatness ? Who has furnished the sublimest illustration of self-government? AVho has taught us that human virtue can set proper limits to human ambition ? Who has taught the ruled of the world that man may be entrusted with power? Who has taught the rulers of the world when and how to surrender power? Of whom did Bancroft write: '' But for him the country would not have achieved its independence, but for him it could not have formed its Union, and now but for him it could not have set the Federal Government in suc cessful motion"? Of whom did Erskiiie say: "You are the only being for whom I have an awful reverence." Of whom did Charles James Fox say, in the House of Commons: '' Illustrious man, before whom all borrowed greatness sinks into insignificance"?, AYashington. What state made the call for the convention that framed the Con stitution? Virginia, Who was the father of the Constitution? Madison. Who made our system of jurisprudence unsurpassed by the civil law of Rome or the common law of England ? Marshall. Who was Marshall's GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1591 worthy successor? Taney. Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Marshall, Taney these were her sons. Their illustrious examples, their eminent services, the glory they shed upon the American name and character were her contributions to the common renown. Is it asked where her history was written 1 It was written upon the brightest page of American annals. It was written upon the records of the convention that framed the Con stitution. It was written in the debates of congresses that met, not to wrangle over questions of mere party supremacy, but, like statesmen and philosophers, to solve the great problems of human government. It was written in the decisions of the country's most illustrious judges, in the treaties of her most skillful diplomats, in the blood of the Revolution, and the battles of every subsequent war, led by her generals, from Chippewa to the proud halls of the Montezumas. "Breathes there a man with soul so dead Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land!'' Forced to defend our homes and liberties after every effort for peace ful separation we went to war. Our leaders were worthy of their high commission. I say our leaders, for I believe that he who led our armies was not more loyal, and made no better use of the resources at his com mand, than he to whom was entrusted our civil administration. Our people sealed their sincerity with the richest treasure ever offered and the noblest holocaust ever consumed on the altar of country. To many of you who enjoy the honor of having participated in it the history is known. You ought to prove yourselves worthy of that honor by teaching that history to those who come after you. Though in no wise responsible for it, though he had warned and struggled to avert it, Georgia's fortune was his fortune, Georgia's destiny was his destiny, though it led to war. Others who had been instrumental in bringing about dissolution and the first to take up arms, engendered disaffection by petty cavils, discouraged when they should have cheered, weakened when they should have strengthened, but the spirit of his devotion never faltered, and through all the stormy life of the young republic, what Stonewall Jackson was to Lee, he was to Davis. If the soldier who leads his country through ' the perils of war is entitled to his country's praise and honor, no less the statesman who furnishes and sustains the resources of war. Our flag went down at Appomattox. Weakened by stabs from behind, inflicted by hands that should have upheld, her front covered with the wounds of the mightiest war of modern times, dripping with as pure blood as ever hallowed Freedom's cause, our Confederacy fell, and Liberty stood weeping at the grave of her youngest and fairest daughter. Our peerless military chieftain went to the noble pursuit of supervising the education of the young, proclaiming that human virtue should be equal to human calamity. Our great civil chieftain went to prison and chains, and there as well as afterward, in the dignified retirement of private life, for twenty years, has shown how human virtue can be equal to human calamity. The one has gone, leaving us the priceless legacy of his most illustrious character; the other still lingers, bearing majestically the sufferings of his people, and calmly awaiting the sum- 1592 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS mons that shall call him to the rewards and glories of those who have suffered for the right. Our Southern soldiers returned to their desolated homes like true Cavaliers, willing to acknowledge their defeat, abide in good faith the terms of the surrender, accept all the legitimate results of the issue, respect the prowess of those who had conquered, and resume their rela tions to the Government, with all the duties those relations imposed. The victorious generals and leaders of the North awaited the highest honors a grateful people could bestow. Their armies having operated over an area of 800,000 square miles in extent, bearing upon their rolls on the day of disbandment 1,000,516 men, were peaceably dissolved, Then followed the most remarkable period in American history in any history. After spending billions of treasure and offering thousands of lives to establish that the states could not withdraw from the Union, it was not only declared that they were out of the Union, but the door of admission was closed against them. "While it cannot be denied that the gravest problems confronted those who were charged with the admin istration of the Government, a just and impartial judgment must declare that the most ingenious statecraft could not have inspired a spirit which, if it permanently ruled, would most certainly have destroyed all the' states. Its success would have been worse for the North than the success of the Southern Confederacy, for if final separation had been established, each new government would have retained the essentials of the old, while the dominance of this spirit would have destroyed every vital principle of our institutions. The success of the Confederacy would have divided the old into two republics. If this spirit had ruled, it would have left no republic. It was therefore a monumental folly as well as a crime. It was not born of the brave men who fought to preserve the Union; it was the offspring of that fanaticism which had, in our early history, while the walls of the capital were blackened by the fires kindled by the invading army of England, threatened disunioji, and from that day forward turned the ministers of religion into political Jacobins, degraded the church of God into a political junto, in the name of liberty denounced the Constitution and laws of the country, and by ceaseless agitation from press and rostrum and pulpit lashed the people into the fury of war. In this presence, at the bar of the enlightened public opinion of America and the world, I arraign that fell spirit of fanaticism and charge it with all the treasure expended and blood shed on both sides of the war, all the sufferings and sacrifices it cost, and all the fearful ruin it wrought. And in the name of the living and the dead I warn you, my countrymen, against the admission of that spirit, under any guise or pretext, into your social or political systems. There are trials severer than war and calamities worse than the defeat of arms. The South was to pass through such trials and be "threatened with such calamities by the events of that period. Now and then it seems that all the latent and pent up forces of the natural world are turned loose for terrible destruction. The foundations of the earth, laid in the depths of the ages, are shaken by mighty upheavals; the heavens, whose blackness is unrelieved by a single star, roll their portentous thunderings, and "Nature, writhing in pain, through all iter works, gives signs of woe.'-The fruits of years of industry are GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1593 swept away in an hour; the landmarks of ages are obliterated without a vestige; the sturdiest oak that has struck deep its roots in the bosom of the earth is the plaything of the maddened winds; the rocks that mark the formation of whole geological periods are rent, and deep gorges in the mountain side, like ugly scars in the face of the earth, tell of the force and fury of the storm. Such was that period to our social, domestic and political institutions. Law no longer held its benign sway, but gave place to the mandates of petty dictators enforced by the bayonet. What little of property remained was held by no tenure but the capricious will of the plunderer; liberty and life were at the mercy of the conqueror; the sanctity of home was invaded; vice triumphed over virtue; ignorance ruled in lordly and haughty dominion over intel ligence ; the weak were oppressed; the unoffending insulted; the fallen warred on; truth was silenced; falsehood, unblushing and brazen, stalked abroad unchallenged; anxiety filled every breast; apprehension clouded every prospect; despair shadowed every hearthstone; society -was dis organized ; legislatures were dispersed; judges torn from their seats by. the strong arm of military power; states subverted; arrests made, trials held, and sentences pronounced without evidence; madness, lust, hate, and crime of every hue, defiant, wicked, and diabolical, ruled the hour, until the very air was rent with the cry, and heaven's deep concave echoed the wail: '' Alas! Our country sinks beneath the yoke. It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash is added to her wounds.'' All this Georgia and her sister states of the South suffered at the hands of her enemies, but more cruel than wrongs done by hostile hands were the wounds inflicted by some of their own children. They basely bartered themselves for the spoils of office. They aligned them selves with the enemies of the people and their liberties until the battle was fought and then, with satanic effrontery, insulted the presence of the virtuous and the brave by coming among them, and forever fixed upon their own ignoble brows the stigma of .a double treachery by pro claiming that they had joined our enemies to betray them. They were enemies to the mother who had nurtured them. "They bowed the knee, and spit upon her. They cried, 'hail!' and smote her onjihe cheek; they put a scepter into her hand, but it was a fragile reed; they crowned her, but it was with thorns.; they covered with purple the wounds which their own hands had inflicted upon her, and inscribed magnificent titles over the cross on which they had fixed her to perish in ignominy and pain." They had quarreled with and weakened the Confederacy out of pretended love for the habeas corpus, and now they sustained a government that trampled upon every form of law and every principle of liberty. They had been foremost in leading the people into war, and now they turned upon them to punish them for treason. Even some who were still loyal at heart, appalled by the danger that surrounded, overwhelmed by the powers that threatened us, were timid in spirit and stood silent witnesses of their country's ruin. Others there were, many others, as loyal, brave, noble, heroic spirits as ever enlisted in freedom's cause. They could suffer defeat in honorable war, but would not, without resistance, though fallen, submit to insult and oppression. Their fortunes were destroyed, their fields desolated, their 1594 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS homes laid in ashes, their hopes blighted, but they would not degrade their manhood. To their invincible spirit and heroic resistance we are indebted for the peace, prosperity and good government we enjoy today. Long live their names and deeds. Let our poets sing them in undying song; let our historians register them in imperishable records: let our teachers teach them in our schools; let our mothers recount them in our homes; let the painter transfer their very forms and features to the canvas to adorn our public halls; let the deft hand of the sculptor chisel them out of granite and marble to beautify our thoroughfares; let every true heart and memory, born and to be born, embalm them forever. Among all the true sons of Georgia, and the South in that day, one form stands conspicuous. No fear blanched his cheek, no danger daunted his courageous soul. His very presence imparted coxirage, his very eye flashed enthusiasm. Unawed by power, unbribed by honor, he stood in the midst of the perils that environed him, brave as Paul before the Sanhedrin ready for bonds or death, true as the men at Runnymede. and as eloquent as Henry, kindling the fires of the Revolution. As we look back upon that struggle, one figure above all others fixes our admiring gaze. His crested helmet waves high where the battle is fiercest. The pure rays of the sun reflected from his glittering shield are not purer that the fires that burn in the breast it covers. His clarion voice rang out louder than the din of battle, like the bugle blast of a Highland chief, resounding over hill, and mountain, and glen, summoning his clans to the defence of home and liberty, and thrilled every heart and nerved every arm. It was the form and voice of Hill. Not only is he entitled to the honor we confer upon him by the events of this day, and higher honor, if higher there could be, as a Georgian, but as a son of the South. The great West boasts that it gave Lincoln to the country and the world. New England exults with peculiar pride in the name and history of Webster, and one of her most distinguished sons, upon the recent occasion of the completion of the Washington monu^ ment, in an oration worthy of his subject, did not hesitate to say: "I am myself a New Engiander by birth. A son of Massachusetts, bound by the strongest ties of affection and of blood to honor and venerate the earlier and later worthies of the old Puritan Commonwealth, jealous of their fair fame, and ever ready to assert and vindicate their just renown.'' Why should not we cherish the same honorable sentiment, and point with pride to the names with which we have adorned our country's history ? What is there in our past of which we need be ashamed ? What is there in which we ought not to glory? They tell us to let the dead past be buried. Well be it so. We are willing to forget; we this day proclaim and bind it by the highest sanction the sacred obligation of Southern honor that we have forgotten all of the past that should not be cherished. We stand in the way of no true progress. We freely pledge our hearts and hands to everything that is not dead that can not die. It moves upon us, it speaks to us. Every instinct of noble manhood, every impulse of gratitude, every obligation of honor demands that we cherish it. We .are bound to it by ties stronger than the cable that binds the continents, and laid as deep in human nature. We cannot cease to honor it until we lose the sentiment that has moved all ages GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1595 and countries. We find the expression of that sentiment in every memorial we erect to commemorate those we love in the unpretentious slab of the country church-yard,:,in the painted windows of the cathedral, in the unpolished head-stone and the costliest mausoleum of our cities of the dead. It dedicated the Roman Pantheon. It has filled Trafalgar Square and Westminster Abbey with memorials of those who for cen turies have made the poetry, the literature, the science, the statesman ship, the oratory, the military and naval glory, the civilization of Eng land. It has adorned the squares of our own Washington City and filled every rotunda, corridor and niche of the capitol with statues and monuments and busts until we have assembled a congress of the dead to instruct, inspire, and guide the congress of the living, while, higher than all surrounding objects, towering above the lofty dome of the capitol stands the obelisk to Washington. Long may it stand fit but inadequate symbol of that colossal character. Of all the works of man it lifts its head nearest to the bright luminary of nature, so that every rising sun joins all human voices, and with the first kiss of the morning.proclaims him favorite of all the family of men. May it and the character it commemorates and the lessons that character teaches abide with us until the light of that sun is extinguished by the final darkness that shall mark the end of the days. Taught by these high examples, moved by this lofty sentiment of mankind, we this day renew the allegiance of ourselves, and pledge that of our posterity to the memory of our southern dead. No son of the South had higher claims upon our gratitude than he whom we this day honor. Against his convictions he followed the South into secession and war. True to her in the days of that war which she waged for separate nationality; true to her in the darker days that followed that war, when she was denied admission into the Union; after her restoration he stood in the House and Senate Chamber the bravest and most eloquent of her defenders, resisting every invasion of her rights, and defiantly and tri umphantly hurling back every assault upon her honor. Not only as a son of Georgia and the South does he merit the tribute of her highest praise, but as a citizen of the Republic. He was a profound student of our system of government, and his knowledge of that system was not only displayed in his public utterances, but is written in the lives and characters of the young men of Georgia who learned from him at the State University, and who, in all the departments of the public service, are entering into careers of the highest usefulness and distinction. "Melius est petere fontes quam sectari rivulos." Madison and Webster were his teachers; never teachers had better student. Webster was not more intense in his love for the Union as originally established by the founders of the Republic. With the under lying principles of the Union he was familiar. To him the American Union was not the territory over which the flag floated and the laws were administered. It was a system of government, embracing a general government for general purposes, and local governments for local pur poses, each, like the spheres of the heavens, to be confined to its own orbit, and neither could invade the domain of the other without chaos and ruin. In the solution of all problems, in the discussion of all questions, in the shaping of all policies, he looked to the Constitution. 1596 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS He regarded the American system of government as the wisest ever devised by the wisdom of men, guided by a beneficent Providence which seemed to have chosen them for the highest achievements of the race. He esteemed it not only for his own, bnt for all people, the greatest produc tion of man, the richest gift of Heaven, except the Bible and Chris tianity. As the firceness of the storm only intensifies the gaze of the mariner upon the star, so the greater the peril the more earnestly he contended for the principles of the Constitution. But to him the states were as much a part of that system as the general Government. His indis soluble Union was composed of indestructible states. He opposed section alism in any guise and from any quarter. As long as it spoke the truth, he honored and loved the flag of his country. For so long, wherever it floated, from the dome of the national capitol at home, or under for-, eign skies, leading the armies of the Republic to deeds of highest valor in war, or signalling the peaceful pursuits of commerce; at all times and everywhere, at home and abroad, on the land and on the sea, in peace or in war, its stripes uttered one voice of good will to its friends and proud defiance to its enemies- while the stars that glittered upon its ample folds told,of free and equal states. Thus looking at it, he could exclaim with patriotic fervor: '' Flag of the Union! Wave on, wave ever. Wave over the great and prosperous North, wave over the thrifty and historic East, wave over the young and expanding West, wave over our own South until the Union shall be so firmly planted in the hearts of all the people that no internecine war shall break our peace, no sectionalism shall disturb our harmony! Flag of the free ! Wave on until the nations looking upon thee shall catch the contagion of freedom! Wave on until the light of knowledge illuminates every mind, the fires of liberty bum in every breast, the fetters fall from every limb, the bonds are loosed from every conscience, and every son of earth and angel of heaven rejoices in the universal emancipation.'' There never was a time in his dis tinguished career when he would not have arrested and stricken down any arm lifted against that flag speaking the truth. But he would have it wave '' over states, not provinces; over freemen, not slaves,'' and there never was a time when flaunting a lie, by whomsoever borne, he would not have despised and trampled upon it. This was true American patriotism. Though loyal to Georgia and the South during the period of separa tion, he rejoiced at their restoration to the Union. No mariner tossed through long nights on unehosen and tempestuous seas ever held the day of return to tranquil port more gladly than he hailed the day of restora tion to the states. No son driven by fortunes lie could not control from the paternal roof, ever left that roof with sadder parting than he left the Union, or returned from the storms without to the shelter of home with wilder transports of joy than he felt when the South was again admitted to "our Fathers' house." Permanent peace .and unity in republic or monarchy cannot be secured by the power of the sword or the authority of legislation. England, with all her power and statesmanship, has tried that for centuries and failed, and will continue to fail until her people .and her rulers learn what her foremost statesman has recognized,' that the unity of all governments of whatever form must rest in the respect and confidence of the people. GEORGIA AND GEOEGIANS 1597 If this principle had been observed after the war between the states, that dark chapter in our history that must remain to- dim -the glory of American, statesmanship would have been unwritten. Wisely appreciat ing this principle after the admission of the true representatives of the people in Congress, with voice and pen, he devoted all the powers of his great mind, and .all the impulses of his patriotic heart, to the re-establish ment of that cordial respect and good feeling between the sections upon which alone our American system, more than all others, must depend for permanent union and peace. The great and good do not die: Fourteen centuries ago, the head of the great apostle fell before the sword of the bloody executioner, but through long ages of oppression his example animated the persecuted church, and today stimulates its missionary spirit to press on through the rigors of every clime and the darkness of every heathen superstition, to the universal and final triumphs of that cross for which he died. Four centuries agone the body of John Wickliffe was exhumed and burnt to ashes, and these cast into the water, but "the Avon to the Severn runs, the Severn to the sea," and the doctrines for which he died cover and bless the world. Half a century ago the living voice of O'Connell was hushed, but that voice today stirs the high-born passions of every true Irish heart throughout the world. The echoes of Prentiss' elocjuent voice still linger in the valley of the Mississippi. Breckenridge's body lies under the soil of Kentucky, but he lives today an inspiration and a glory to her sons. And today there comes to us and to those after us, the voice of our dead, solemn with the emphasis of another world, more eloquent than that with which he was wont to charm us. It says to us: "Children of Georgia, love thy mother. Cherish all that is good and just in her past. Study her highest interests. Discover, project, and foster all that will promote her future. . Respect and obey her laws. Guard well her sacred honor. Give your richest treasures and best efforts to her material, social, intellectual, and moral advancement, until she shines the brightest jewel in the diadem of the Republic. Men of the South, sons of the proud Cavalier, bound together by common traditions, memories, and senti ment, sharers of a common glory and common sufferings, never lower your standard of private or public honor. Keep the church pure and the state uncorrupted. Be true to yourselves, your country, and your God, and fulfill the highest destiny that lies before you. Citizens of the Republic, love your system of government, study and venerate the Con stitution, cherish the Union, oppose all sectionalism, promote the weal and maintain the honor of the Republic. 'Who saves his country, saves himself, saves all things, and all things saved do bless him; who lets his country die, lets all things die, dies himself ignobly, and all things dying curse him.' " Illustrious citizen of the state, of the South, of the Republic, thou hast taught us to be brave in danger, to be true without the hope of success, to be patriotic in all things. We honor thee for thy matchless eloquence, for thy dauntless courage, for thy lofty patriotism. For the useful lessons which thou hast taught us, for the honorable example thou hast left us, for the faithful service thou hast done us, we dedicate this statue to thy name and memory. Telling of thee it shall animate 1598 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS the young with the highest aspirations for distinction, cheer the aged with hopes for the future, and strengthen all in the perils that may await us. May it stand, enduring as the foundations of yonder capitol, no more firmly laid in the earth than thy just fame in the memories and hearts of this people. But whether it stand, pointing to the glories of the past, inspiring us with hope for the future, or fall before some unfriendly storm, thou shalt live, for we this day crown thee with higher honor than forum or senate can confer. '' In this spacious temple of the firmauent," lit up by the splendor of this unclouded southern sun, on this august occasion, dignified by the highest officers of munici pality and state, and still more by the presence of the most distinguished living as well as the spirits of the most illustrious dead, we come in grand procession childhood and age, young men and maidens, old men and matrons, from country and village and city, from hovel and cottage and mansion, from shop and mart and office, from every pursuit and rank and station, and with united hearts and voices, crown thee with the undying admiration, gratitude, and love of thy countrymen! WALTER G. CHA.ELTON : OGUETHORPF [This splendid commemorative address was delivered at the unveil ing of the Oglethorpe monument, in Savannah, on November 23, 1910 267 years .after the landing of the first emigrants on Yamacrow Bluff. The Oglethorpe Monument Association was chartered by the Superior Court of Chatham County, May 18, 1901, and its membership consisted of six representatives each, from the Georgia Society of Colonial Dames of America, the Sons of the American Revolution, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Society of Colonial Wars. In 1906, the Legislature of Georgia, toward this fund, appropriated the sum of $15,000 and a commission to take charge of the work, on behalf of the state, was appointed as follows: Hon. J. Randolph Anderson, chairman ; Hons. P. A. Stovall, A. A. Lawrence, Walter G. Charlton, Peter W. Meldrim, J. II. Estill, and A. R. Lawton, of Savannah; Hons. R. E. Park, state treasurer; Alien D. Chandler, and W. G. Cooper, of Atlanta; Hon. Joseph R. Lamar, of Augusta, and Hon. H. F. Dunwoody, of Brunswick. Hon. J. H. Estill died during the administration of Gov. Hoke Smith, who appointed in his place Hon. R. J. Davant, of Savannah. Hons. R. E. Park and Alien D. Chandler died during the administration of Gov. Joseph M. Brown, who appointed to succeed them Hons. Wymberley J. DeRenne and J. Florance Minis, of Savannah. In 1909, the City of Savannah appropriated $15,000, while the remainder ($8,000) was appro priated by the patriotic societies making a total cost of $38,000. The sculptor who designed the monument was Daniel Chester French, of New York. Said Judge Charlton:] . Governor of Georgia, Ladies and Gentlemen, My Fellow-Georgians: Near two centuries ago, a man of strong and noble nature sought here and there in London a missing friend, whose character 'and kindly qualities kept him in affectionate remembrance. His search brought him at length to the debtors' prison of the Fleet, where in vilest sur roundings, deliberately imprisoned in a narrow cell, with victims of GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1599 small-pox, he found the friend of his youth dying of that loathsome disease. When he departed from that horrible scene, his life was conse crated to a noble purpose. With the passing of the years there came a bright day in the long ago, when, as the soft voices of spring were calling back to life and glory the sleeping beauties of nature, there landed upon what was destined to become a sovereign state a small band, selected to start upon its career the most remarkable experiment in the history of colonization. The purpose had reached its fulfilment, for the sorrowing friend was Oglethorpe; the adventurers, the passengers of the Anne; the land, the commonwealth which today holds our allegiance, our hopes, our happiness. As they stood at that historic moment beneath the marvelous blue of the February sky free as the winds which sighed through the majestic pines which surrounded them their memories aglow with the hospi tality which had received and sheltered them as their voyage drew to its conclusion on the neighboring shores of Carolina, no happier people ever faced the serious responsibilities of life. About them was grace and song and beauty; before them, the prospect of rest and content; within them, the peace of God. The tempestuous Atlantic, with its wintry wastes, had become a memory; and, in the dim vistas of the past, the cruel bitterness of man's brutality was fading away, as the phantoms of the night before the warmth and splendor of the rising sun. They were not makers of history, these six score men and women from the debtors' prisons of England. They were the opportunity through which history is made. With all the limitations which the condition suggests, they had been the victims of the most merciless system of laws which ever disgraced a civilized country but were now free; free to take up- the broken journey of life, which, burdened as it had been with measure less suffering, had yet been untouched by the vice and dishonesty which surrounded it hour by hour. They were good men who had failed in the practical affairs of life, and from whom had departed the buoyancy of youth. They had marked time as ambition hurried by and was lost. And yet, when the last man stepped ashore on that historic day the echo of his footfall was to sound down the centuries; the historian was to take up a new story in the annals of nations for the great tide in human affairs had turned definitely to its upward flow. There had been nothing like it in the history of mankind. They were of the weak .and oppressed of earth. Few in number, untrained in military venture, unskilled in civic construction their mission was to build for all time an empire in a wilderness and to hold it against the warlike savage and the armies and navies of one of the greatest powers of Europe. Even as they set foot upon the shore, facing them were the hordes of Indians w:hom they were to resist, whilst to the south were gathering like unto the storm-clouds of the coming tempest the hosts of Spain. Yet from the tragic elements of failure came victory, for in the divine purposes of the Almighty it had been ordained at that moment there should stand upon the soil of Georgia the one man in all the world through whom victory might come. A great artist, under the inspiration of a great subject, has brought to triumphant conclusion a work of art which, for all time, will hold the attention and interest of those whose vision rises above the sordid and 1600 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS groveling concerns of life and takes within its scope the things which charm and ennohle thought and action. To him who loves art for art's sake, the faithfulness of detail; the grace of outline; the strength of pose; the historic perfection of the portrayal will hold in fascination. "What the Georgian will see and what he will carry in his memory from this historic spot will be the recollection of a strong, dominant warrior, with the fighting look upon his face resolute and unconquerable in the .wisdom of Providence destined to stand on Georgia soil and in one momentous day end forever a conflict which had convulsed the civiliza tion, of Europe for centuries; and to see as he sheathed his victorious sword what would be in time the greatest monument it was ever given to man to rear a free and sovereign state. Human force and genius are so often contrasted with the grave crises which threaten to destroy the organized affairs of men, that when emergencies occur we instinctively search the perspective for the inev- itable relief. The tension of the situation reacts upon the tendencies of given minds and won or lost no great cause ever swayed the hopes and emotions of mankind but from the stress and conflict sprang some heroic spirit to leave its shining record on the pages of history. Of the greatness of Oglethorpe is the fact that no crisis was at hand when he started upon the illustrious career, in recognition of which a grateful people this day do homage to his memory. In the times in which he began life the direction in which his steps led was along the beaten path of thousands. A military apprenticeship under generals of renown; a parliamentary career of more or less usefulness; a respectable and quiet old age amid the congenial surroundings of a privileged class it was the common fate of those from whom he came. The imagination falters as it attempts to reconstruct that conditions upon which the contemporaries of Oglethorpe looked with the com- placency which hourly contact induces. In military prowess; in terrific hardships upon land and sea; in shrewd .and cunning diplomacy and politics, the age was supreme. For the simpler and nobler qualities from which are derived the patriot and the brother, there was neither place nor recognition. The greatest soldier of the age did not hesitate to sell his country for gold; the poet on bended knee served the fruitions of his soul to the taste of the dissolute in power; the statesman pandered to the vices of those who could repay in coin and place the eloquence which belonged to the race and not to the individual. Jeffries had not long since ridden upon his circuit, with a sneer on his lips, sending to the gallows, amid the brutal clamor of the accompanying mob, women and children, for offences which now receive the least of punishments. The poor were despised; the sick abandoned; the stricken in mind mal- treated and exhibited for money. Deep down in all this misery, friendless and hopeless, forgotten of friend and kindred, removed even from, the exhausted malice of foes, was the insolvent debtor whose only crime was his inability at the moment of demand to deliver the money which he had promised to pay. . : Appalling as was the condition which prevailed as the century drew to its close, the most frightful manifestation was the unprotested acceptance of it as endurably natural. Removed by the circumstances of birth from .its .more debasing aspects and influences, was born, on :i ; ; :; : .'; :H :! :: iiii : ':;.; - ii ii: - ii: lii ii:| ii ii :i.\i| iiiii iiil iiiiii 'ii! :M ii! iiiii ill ii iil iii'i : ii : ! liilii ii|i rM iiiiii iiiii; ; iiiiiii iiiiii: i::|: iiiii!!::* .l : ;|;i|IJ iillli| :::::?iliK::i GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1601 December 22, 1696, James Edward Oglethorpe. Influence and oppor tunity brought him a commission, in his fifteenth year, under Marlborough, and, after the peace of 1712, he served under Prince Eugene in 'the campaigns on the Danube. There could have been no better martial schooling. But in this English boy was something beyond military enthusiasm. Working in his active brain was the constructive force which molds statesmen, and so directs and molds the destinies of nations. He might, in the parliamentary career upon which he entered in 1722 have attained distinction, or, restive in the subservient crowd that dogs the footsteps of the great, he might have gone prematurely to that life of quiet which in the distance awaited his coming. It was otherwise ordained. The pen of a great novelist a century later aroused to indignant protest the English mind against the iniquities of imprison ment for debt, and the echo of that far off revolution in public sentiment sounded at length in the constitution of Georgia. But on the day when Oglethorpe moved by the misfortune of a friend passed through the portals of the Fleet to find Robert Castell suffering amid the unspeakable brutalities of the debtors' prison the tortures of small-pox, there was no public conscience to be aroused to horror. When Hampden stormed with vivid bursts of eloquence in the British parlia ment, appealing to the eternal principles of liberty, though they brought down upon him the wrath of royalty, his words found lodgment in the souls and memories of thousands, to grow and develop until in time all England responded to the truths he had proclaimed. The sentiment and the crisis were at hand. But upon this man was to fall not only the responsibility of meeting and overcoming a great evil by the force of his individuality, but of creating the opportunity without which his enthusiaasm and devotion must fade and perish for want of that upon which it must take root to live. The England of 1729 took no heed of what fate might befall the insolvent debtor. Misfortune and misery excited its mirth; and compas sion like some feeble growth slight-rooted in arid soil, sent its weak and nerveless tendrils here and there in fitful and uncertain ways toward what might prove support. The man and the evil stood face to face, and singly and alone, as in the tales where moved the knights-errant of the age of poesy, he gave fight until the sheer gallantry of the spectacle began to make a responsive thrill, and gather to him, one by one, the kindred spirits which, few in number, but worthy of the cause in which they fought, stood with him until the glorious end became a conclusion never to be undone 111 the history of man. His chivalrous heart, full of indignant pity for the sorrows upon which he looked, Oglethorpe introduced into parliament a resolution of inquiry into the conditions of the debtors' prison. The investigation which followed revealed, in the language of an historian of that epoch, "infamous jobbery and more infamous cruelty on the part of prison officials.'' With the report came the opportunity without which the greatness of individuals means nothing. They fail to grasp the greatness of this man's nature who see in his efforts only the workings of emotional benevolence the distempered energy which forces its conceptions of altruism upon the poor with no thought for the poor man's dignity of thought and independence of 1602 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS spirit. What moved him to action was a divine wrath against injustice the scorn of an exalted mind for the besotted barbarities of a practice which found no warrant in the laws of God or the promptings of common humanity. It was characteristic of the situation that, when the charter of Georgia came to be signed, the names written into it were few few and known and honored. Written at a time when the great civic and private virtues which illustrate every condition of our day were in a state of dormancy, its language places it among the priceless documents of the ages. Without profit or reward or hope of material benefit to any incorporator, it was recited that his majesty, having taken into con sideration the miserable circumstances of many of his own poor subjects, ready to perish for want, as likewise the distress of many poor foreigners who would take refuge here from persecution, hath, out of his fatherly compassion toward his subjects, been graciously pleased to grant a charter for incorporating a number of gentlemen by the name of '' The Trustees for Establishing a Colony of Georgia in America," We are accustomed to the spectacle of public altruism, where the plethoric dispenser of charity pursues his complacent way with a staff of newspaper correspondents at his heels, and followed by the gaping multitude from whom he has drawn his wealth; and with check-book in one hand and chisel in the other erects an edifice with the one and with the other carves his ignoble name that we may not forget the inci dent. But here was a soul crying aloud, like John "in the wilderness, with no thought of self, that the helpless might be lifted from the depths of despair and the stricken in spirit take hope for the renewed conflicts of a life which had come to be with them a vague and insubstantial memory. Whatever his eloquence or want of eloquence, from the material of the impossible this man evolved the possible and the fact; and when the slow processes of legislative inquiry began to quiver into movement, and piece by piece to form in the minds of the few the result which took form in the charter of Georgia, the refuge for the friendless and the oppressed, the first practical step in the direction of moral reform in social conditions had been taken; and although the labor and eloquence of 100 years were to be expended before the revolution in public senti ment became assured and the Samaritan began once more to travel along the highways of life, the fact remains that, among human agencies, to the founder of Georgia is to be ascribed the first practical step in the direction of that comprehensive altruism which in our day works to its blessed ends with no hope of reward and no thought of personal importance. It was not to be conceived that any man, be his persuasiveness what it might, could impress on king or parliament or subject the practicability or disirability of establishing in a distant wilderness beyond the seas a colony for the friendless and the oppressed, without more. The shrewd ness of Oglethorpe's mind foresaw that without some practical importance to be given the movement he had in contemplation, something which would appeal to a general sentiment already existing, rather than to one which should exist, but did not, the work he had in view would never progress beyond his hopes. Whatever might be the social degrada tion to which England had descended, with the consequent indifference to the inevitable results which followed upon such a deplorable condition, in one direction the public sentiment was sound. An appeal which was GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1603 founded upon the necessity or advisability of extending the military power had prompt an'd effective response from noble and peasant. Marlborough might traffic with the Court of Prance, but Marlborough was none the less the great general who had carried the flag of England in triumph through the ranks of continental powers; whilst wherever the ocean beat, over its stormy waves floated in defiant freedom the historic banner which our ancestors loved. Colonies for the exercise of benevolence were unknown to the states manship of that or any other age; but colonies for military purposes were as old as civilization itself. The presentation was attractive; the utility demonstrable. Across the stretches of a vast ocean was .a colony favored of the crown and established in the sentiments of the people. To the south and west were tribes of savages of unknown numbers, ready and eager to descend upon its resources, whilst in the offing were gathered the navies of the hereditary foe of England, with which at intervals it had waged desperate warfare extending over centuries of time. So to the project of the benevolent colony was added the alluring prospect of a colony which was to interpose its effective presence between Carolina on the one hand and the Spaniard and Indian on the other. Men might scoff at the opportunity to be furnished the insolvent debtor to redeem his fortunes, but it would not occur to the practical minded Briton to view with indifference a determined body of aggressive Englishmen to be drawn from the fighting stock of the old country and landed upon a distant shore charged with the duty of fighting, and in what to all was not only a good cause, but a cause which had in it the element of temper as well, as right; and so, what was apparently the secondary purpose of the settlement of Georgia became by force of circumstances inherent in the original project the real purpose and the charter in ringing terms made this the only military colony in America. In considering the character and success of Oglethorpe both purposes are to be borne in mind. That his object was really to lift from the deplorable condition in which he was, the insolvent debtor, there can be no doubt; that he accepted in good faith but with the enthusiasm of one in whom the spirit of chivalry was developed to its highest excellence, the additional charge to carry to success the English arms, is equally certain. No one of his unusual perspicacity could fail to know that a col ony of insolvent debtors, just from the loathsome prisons of England, however honest they might be, would be worse than useless as a military establishment. It meant in all probability just so many more people to protect. A man who was simply wise without being humane and great would, upon the granting of the charter with its two objects, have ignored the one and iixed his hopes upon the other. If he had followed the paths of his predecessors in colonial experimen tation that would have been his determination. If he had in view personal aggrandizement, personal greed, personal privilege, the military feature assured, the friendless prisoners would have been relegated to despair. It is to be remembered of this man, so long as history shall carry the deeds and greatness of mortals to a discriminating posterity, that in all the years of his administration of the colony of Georgia, from the moment when the project took shape in his mind and heart, to the moment when, his work accomplished, he saw the lines of her coast recede from his 1604 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS vision; through the resulting years of honor and dignity, unto the moment when he passed into the peace of eternity, the founder of Georgia never owned a foot of Georgia soil; enjoyed no privilege in her vast domain save such as was necessary to the effective discharge of his public trust; and so far from taking to his profit one cent devoted to her development or to the purposes of her settlement, left the service of Georgia and of the crown of England, with fortune impaired and never restored by the government which had profited by his work. You will search in vain through the stories of American colonization, my fellow Georgians, for the instance which suggests remotely the dis interestedness of him in whose honor we are here today. Integrity and disinterestedness in public life as they illustrated Oglethorpe, so made they our people great in the days which followed. Guard with constant watchfulness this priceless heritage, for on that day when we become indifferent to the influence of these virtues; that moment when we view with complacency the give and take of modern politics, so sure as the rising of the sun will be the passing of the republic which southern thought and sacrifice made possible and southern tradition and devotion keep secure in the deadly storms which are now shaking it to its foundations. The occasion is concerned with the individual rather than the inci dents which one by one formed his life work into a great historical event, not without its epic setting. Consider for .a moment a broad and chivalric nature, trained in the school of military service under the great captains of Europe, at the head of a colony of 120 men and women, broken in fortune and in spirit, bound for a wild country across the tempestuous seas, extending, by the written words of the charter, from the waters of the Savannah to the South seas a land inhabited by savages of warlike disposition and habit, and menaced by the naval and military power of the ancient and truculent foe of England. Yet when on November 30, 1732, the good ship Anne set sail from Gravesend and turned her prow to the setting sun, at that moment began a distinct epoch not only in the military history of England, but in the moral development of mankind. Upon that momentous voyage and its conclusion at the hospitable shores of Carolina it is not permissible to dwell at length. Leaving the colonists in the generous care of the noble people of that great colony, Oglethorpe pursued his way to Georgia and in a brief interview with Tomochichi settled for all time the relations between the colony and the Indians. There is no such colonial record anywhere in America. With out this victory of peace the colony could not have progressed, if it could have started upon its way, and it would reflect upon a generous people to forego a passing tribute to that great Georgian of the long ago whose broadness of mind and faithfulness of character made possible the solu tion of this problem which confronted the colonists at the threshold of their undertaking. It is said that not a day passes over the earth but men and women of no note do great deeds, speak great words, and suffer noble sorrows. Of these obscure heroes, philosophers and martyrs, the greater part will never be known till that hour when many that are great shall be small and the small great; but of others the world's knowledge may be said to sleep; their lives and characters lie hidden from nations in the annals that record them. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS . 1605 Of these last was Tomo-ehi-chi, who, when upwards of ninety years of age, was fighting the enemies of Georgia. In a neighboring square, a few hundred feet from this spot, where he was laid to rest by the people of Georgia, a noble band of Georgia women, carrying out the forgotten behest of Oglethorpe, made in the long ago, have placed as a. memorial where he was buried, a boulder of Georgia granite. On it is inscribed that he was the Mico of the Yamacraws, the companion of Oglethorpe, and the friend and ally of the Colony of Georgia. As they were associated in life, so let them live together in our grateful memories, and let this spot on which stands the monument to the one discard a designation which is meaningless and take up the name of the old warrior whose friendship made possible the peaceful settlement of the colony of Georgia. From the petty details and annoyances of colonial inauguration, in finitely more trying to one of Oglethorpe's character than the stern hardships and dangers of campaigning, the project, in what began to be its more critical phase, engrossed the thought and anxiety of the leader. The Indian had been converted into a friend, but the war-clouds were still gathering to the south. To attempt to stay that storm by the exhibition of 120 insolvent debtors would have recalled, amid the derisive laughter of the gods, Xerxes stilling the sounding waves with the uplift ing of his hands. But the call to battle which rung in the words of the Georgia charter had not been unheeded. The first adventurers who sailed in the Anne came from the debtors' prison, but the colonists who followed during the next three years were of as free and sturdy a stock as ever ventured forth to extend the prestige and power of England. These freemen from England and Scotland, with the brave-hearted Salzbnrgers, were the substantial colonists of Georgia, and from their arrival here the movement took on new life. It was a colony as notable for what it did not do as for that which was undertaken and accomplished. It was of the fortune of mankind that at the critical moments the guiding power was in the man who had made the experiment possible. An apparently impossible undertaking which must have appealed to the age in which it was essayed as a comic mani festation, took on a practical business aspect within .a few hours of the landing. The Indians became friends; toleration prevailed; civic and military progression went on side by side; even the dreaded witch in free Georgia had more rights than the minister of God who in higher latitudes wandered from colony to colony seeking in vain the rest which his voca tion suggested and his character demanded and after centuries of perse cution here at last the learned and patient Jew found peace. To the practical mind of Oglethorpe no detail was negligible. As there were no mercenary .aims in the venture itself or its development, the grinding processes which were applied elsewhere found no toleration here. It was not only a practical mind which governed, but the mind of a constructive statesman, trained in the hard school of military necessity. Oglethorpe not only dealt successfully with the petty details of colonial life, but with singular clearness his vision took within its scope the things which were to come. He forbade slavery and prohibited rum, industries which found lodgment only after Ms departure. The very plan upon which Savannah progresses was formulated by him. The instructed Georgian cannot look in any direction here without being Vol. Ill--22 1606 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS reminded of the great man who was responsible for the existence of . Georgia. The fate of the colony was in the keeping of this one man. Had he faltered; had his resources of mind and soul even so much as checked their out-pour at any given time, the experiment had failed. He had already accomplished a great work. The Colony of Georgia had been fixed on safe lines, and altruism had been rewritten upon the souls of men. A great man and a great work had come together, and the vitality of a great nature had been breathed into the work.. But the colonization of Georgia even upon such lofty ideals was the accomplishment of only a part of that which Oglethorpe had in mind. As you face his statue, with the naked sword in hand and its defiant and fighting look toward the south, another Oglethorpe confronts you. The statesman has stripped away his robes, and the lieutenant of Maryborough, and Eugene, with the problem of centuries before him, awaits the moment when, along the narrow edge of the gleaming blade in his hand, shall flash the signal of battle, and the old quarrel between England and Spain find its solution. From the settlement, on February 12, 1733, the colony had progressed without special incident for a year. In the summer of that year Ogle thorpe had returned to England, accompanied by Tomo-chi-chi; and, on March 10, 1734, the Purisburg, with, the Salzburgers arrived. The High landers sailed on the Prince of Wales, October 20, 1735. The London Merchant and the Symond left England with the Frederica colonists on December 21, 1735. Having returned to the colony toward the close of 1736, Oglethorpe again sailed for England to urge the departure of the military contingent. A portion of the troops sailed on May 7, 1738, and the remainder, with Oglethorpe as general, arrived off Jekyl bar, on September 18, 1738. During the intervals, Oglethorpe, with the assistance of Tomo-chi-chi, made frequent demonstrations along the Spanish frontier. Hostilities began on November 15, 1739, with the slaying of two Highlanders by the Spaniards, on Amelia Island. Oglethorpe at once gave pursuit, push ing on to the St. John's River, and burning three outposts. Marching in the direction of St. Augustine, he attacked and defeated a detachment of the enemy, .and attempted to take, unsuccessfully, forts St. Francis and Picolata. Returning, on January 1, 1740, he burned the laiter and reduced the former. It never occurred to Oglethorpe to stay whipped. Driven off today he was back on the morrow a practice which the Spanish governor took much to heart as unreasonable, with a touch of discourtesy to a successful antagonist. In May, 1740, with an army 2,000 strong, consisting of regulars, militia, and Indians with a co-operative fleet, under Admiral Vernon, he moved on to St. Augustine; captured Fort Moosa, and signaling the fleet to action, prepared to deliver the assault on the fortifications of the Florida stronghold. The fleet failed to respond and departed, and the unsupported attack from the land becoming thus impracticable, a siege of three weeks followed, which Oglethorpe was finally compelled to aban don. To his repeated and urgent requests for reinforcements the home government made no response and he had been practically abandoned to his fate, when, in the summer of 17.41, the long gathering storm burst in all its fury. A Spanish fleet of fifty-one sails had appeared in June :: ;;;;:;: ;.;;;;:;| ; ;;: | :::s' : : :. : \ i j: ; ' ...';!, - .ij GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1607 of that year. Its vessels, in one way and another, were so badly used by Oglethorpe in detail that it finally disappeared, to be replaced on June 28th by the St. Augustine fleet of thirty-eight sails. Oglethorpe retarded its movements until July 5th, when, after a hot engagement; lasting four hours, it passed the batteries and got out of range toward Prederica, upon which place Oglethorpe fell back -the enemy landing on the south end of St. Simon's. On July 7, 1742, the Spaniards moved on Frederica and Oglethorpe advanced to meet them, and the decisive battle of Bloody Marsh was on. When the smoke cleared away Georgia was free. The battle had not been to the strong. The comment of'Oglethorpe was as characteristic as it was modest. '' The Spanish invasion which had a long time threatened the colony, Carolina and all North America, has at last fallen upon us, and God hath been our deliverance." And George "Whitfield said of it, '' the deliverance of Georgia from the Spaniards is such as cannot be paralleled but by some instances out of the Old Testament.'' His work accomplished; his mission fulfilled, on July 23, 1743, he sailed for England, never to see again the land to which he had devoted the best years of his life. He was .too great to escape the calumnies of the small and the ingratitude of the narrow. Having passed to payment the expenditures made by him out of his personal fortune, the English government revoked its action and appropriated his money. Having availed themselves of his military talents, the advisers of royalty courtmartialed him on grounds which were dismissed as slanderous. Finally, he withdrew from the service of an ungrateful monarch and entered upon the last stage of the journey of life which was to end on July 1, 1785. King and courtier might see in him only a successful rival for the fame which it was not given them to attain, but with the great spirit of his time he became a welcome guest. Authors laid their tributes at his feet and poets bound about his brows the laurel wreaths of victory. Georgia and her fate never passed from his thought. Tradition has it that in the days of the Revolution he was tendered the command of the English forces, and refused to take up arms against the colony he had founded. "Whether it be true or no, never in thought or word that history records was he ever disloyal to the colony to which he had devoted the best years of his life. He had striven with success for the betterment of the weak and help less in an age of abject selfishness. He had made an empire with a handful of the oppressed of earth, and the work had survived. He had overcome the Indian by persuasion and kindness, and won the abiding friendship of the savages he had been sent to slay. He had encountered the most powerful foe of England and driven him in disastrous defeat before his scant battle-line. Reversing all the traditions of colonial administration, he had been tolerant and just. He was a builder and not an iconoclast; a statesman and not a schemer; a soldier and not a plunderer. Brave and wise and merciful, the ends he accomplished placed him in historic perspective a century ahead of the day in which he worked. Honest in an era of guile, without fear and without reproach, he comes to us with his unstained record, to live so long as Georgians shall stand upon the ancient ways, and see and approve the better things of life. In all his brilliant career in the hour of stress, in the moment of victory 1608 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS no clamorous sound of vain and self-applauding words came from his lips. There was no need. That which he did sends its paeans down the centuries; and over his illustrious career Georgia stands guard forever. JOHN TEMPLE GRAVES : EULOGY OP HENRY "W. GBADY [This speech, a gem of oratory, was delivered at the memorial exer cises held in DeGive's Opera House, Atlanta, Georgia, December 28,1889, in honor of the South's great editor. It was received with the wildest outburst of enthusiasm by an audience which packed the opera house from pit to gallery, and at its close the speaker received an ovation which lasted for several minutes. Colonel Graves was at this time edtior of the Rome Tribune. He is today editor of the New York American, and one of the foremost public men of America.] I am one among the thousands who loved him and I stand with the millions who lament his death. I loved him in the promise of his glowing youth, when, across my boyish vision, he walked with winning grace from easy effort to success. I loved him in the flush of splendid manhood when a nation hung upon his words; and now, with the dross of human friendship smitten in my soul, I love him best of all as he lies yonder under the December skies, with face as tranquil and with smile as sweet as patriot ever wore. In this sweet and solemn hour all the rare and kindly adjectives that blossomed in the shining pathway of his pen seem to have come from every quarter of the continent to lay themselves in loving tribute at their master's feet; but, rich as the music which they bring, all the cadences of our elogy '' Sigh for the touch of a vanished hand And the sound of a voice that is still.'' And here today, within this hall, glorified by the echoes of his elo quence, standing to answer the impulse of my heart to the roll-call of his friends, and stricken with an emptiness of words, I know that when the finger of God touched his eyelids into sleep there gathered a silence upon the only lips that could weave the sun-bright story of his days or mete sufficient eulogy to the incomparable richness of his life. I agree with Patrick Collins that he was the most brilliant son of this republic. If the annals of these times are told with truth, they will give him place as the phenomenon of his period, the Admiral Crichton of the age in which he lived. No eloquence has equaled his since Sergeant Prentiss faded from the earth. No pen has plowed such noble furrow in his country's fallow fields since the wrist of Horace Greeley rested. No age of the republic has witnessed such marvelous conjunction of a magic pen with the velvet splendor of a mellow tongue; and although the war like rival of these wondrous forces never rose within his life, it is writ of all his living that the noble fires of his genius were kindled in his boyhood from the gleam that died upon his father's sword. I have loved to follow, and I love to follow now, the pathway of that diamond pen as it flashed like an inspiration over every phase of life GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1609 in Georgia. It touched the sick body of a desolate and despairing agri culture with the impulse of a better method, and the farmer, catching the glow of promise in his words, left off sighing and went to singing in Iris fields, until at last the better day has come, and as the sunshine melts into his harvests with the tender rain, the heart of humanity is glad in his hope, and the glow of his fields seems the smile of the Lord. Its brave point went with cheerful prophecy and engaging manliness into the ranks of toil, until the workman at his anvil felt the dignity of labor pulse the somber joutine of the hours, and the curse of Adam, soft ening in the faith of silvery sentences, became the blessing and the com fort of his days. Into an era of practical politics it dashed with the grace of an earlier chivalry, and in an age of pushing and unseemly scramble it awoke the spirit of a loftier sentiment, while around the glow of splendid narrative and the charm of entrancing plea there grew a goodlier company of youth, linked to the republic's nobler legends and holding fast that generous loyalty that builds the highest bulwark of the state. First of all the instruments which fitted his genius to expression was his radiant pen. Long after it had blazed his way to eminence and use fulness, he waked the power of that surpassing oratory which has bettered all the sentiment of his country and enriched the ripe vocabulary of the world. Nothing in the history of human speech will equal the stately stoppings of his eloquence into glory. In a single night he caught the heart of the country in his warm embrace and leaped from a banquet revelry into national fame. It is, at last, the crowning evidence of his genius that he held to the end unbroken the high fame so easily won and, sweeping from triumph unto triumph, with not one leaf of his laurels withered by time or staled by circumstance, died on yesterday, the fore most orator of all the world. It is marvelous past all telling how he caught the heart of the country in the fervid glow of his own! All the forces of our statesmanship have not prevailed for union like the ringing speeches of this bright, magnetic man. His eloquence' was the electric current over which the positive and negative poles of American sentiment were rushing to a warm embrace. It was the transparent medium through which the bleared eyes of section were learning to see each other clearer and to love each other better. He was melting bitterness in the warmth of his patriot sympathies; sections were being linked in the logic of his liquid sentences, and when he died he was literally loving a nation into peace. Fit and dramatic climax to a glorious mission that he should have lived to carry the South's last and greatest message to the center of New England's culture, and then, with the gracious answer to his transcendant service locked in his loyal heart, come home to die among the people he had served! . Fitter still that, as he walked in final triumph through the streets of his beloved city, he should have caught upon his kingly brow that wreath of southern roses richer jewels than Victoria wears plucked by the hands of Georgia women, borne by the hands of Georgia, men, and flung about him with a tenderness that crowned him for his burial, that, in the unspeakable fragrance of Georgia's full and sweet approval, he might '' draw the drapery of his couch about him and lie down to pleasant dreams." 1610 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS If I should seek to touch' the core of all his greatness, I would lay my hand upon his heart. I should speak of his humanity, his almost inspired sympathies, his sweet philanthropy, and the noble heartfulness than ran like a silver current through his life. His heart was the furnace where he fashioned all his glowing speech. Love was the current that sent his golden sentences pulsing through the world, and in the honest throb of human sympathies he found the anchor that held him steadfast to all things great and true. He was the incarnate triumph of a heartful man. I thank God, as I stand above my buried friend, that there is not one ignoble memory in all the shining pathway of his fame! In all the glorious gifts that God Almighty gave him, not one was ever bent to willing service in unrighteous cause. He lived to make the world about him better. With all his splendid might, he helped to build a heartier, happier and more wholesome sentiment among his kind. And in fond ness, mixed with reverence, I believe that the Christ of Calvary, who died for men, has found a welcome sweet for one who fleshed within his person the golden spirit of the new commandment and spent his powers in glorious living for his race. 0, brilliant and incomparable Grady! "We lay for a season thy pre cious dust beneath the soil that bore and cherished thee, but we fling back against all our brightening skies the thoughtless speech that calls thee dead I God reigns and his purpose lives; and although these brave lips are silent here, the seeds sown in this incarnate eloquence will sprinkle patriots through the years to come and perpetuate thy living in a race of nobler men! But all our words are empty and they mock the air. If we would speak the eulogy that fills this day, let us build within this city that he loved, a monument, tall as his services and noble as the place he filled. Let every Georgian lend a hand, and as it rises to confront in majesty his darkened home, let the widow who weeps there be told that every stone that makes it has been sawn from the solid prosperity that he builded, and that the light which plays upon its summit is, in afterglow, the sunshine which he brought into the world. And for the rest silence. The sweetest thing about his funeral was that no sound broke the stillness, save the reading of the Scripture and the melody of music. No fire that can be kindled upon the altar of speech can relume the radiant spark that perished yesterday. No blaze born in all our eulogy can burn beside the sunlight of his useful life. After all, there is nothing grander than such living. I have seen the light that gleamed at midnight from the headlight of some giant engine, rushing onward through the darkness, heedless of opposition, fearless of danger, and I thought it was grand. I have seen the light come over the eastern hills in glory, driving the lazy darkness like mist before a sea-born gale, till leaf, and tree, and blade of grass, glittered in the myriad diamonds of the morning ray; and I thought it was grand. I have seen the light that leaped at midnight athwart the storm-swept sky, shivering over chaotic clouds, mid howling winds, till cloud and darkness and the shadow-haunted earth flashed into mid-day splendor, and I knew it was grand. But the grandest thing, next to the radiance that flows from the almighty throne, is the light of a noble GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1611 and beautiful life, wrapping itself in benediction round the destinies of men and finding its home in the blessed bosom of the Everlasting God 1 JOHN B. GORDON : THE LAST DAYS OF THE CONFEDERACY [Though not a "West Point officer, General Gordon achieved the high est military distinction during the Civil war and commanded half of Lee's army in the last charge at Appomattox. Subsequent to the war he became governor of Georgia and United States senator. He was also commander-in-chief of the United Confederate Veterans for fourteen years, dating from the organization of this body in 1890 until his death. in 1904. General Gordon was not only a superb soldier, but a peerless orator, and his lecture on "The Last Days of the Confederacy" was a most effective and powerful instrumentality in welding the sections more closely together.] Ladies, and my fellow-countrymen: In deciding to deliver a series of lectures you will credit me, I trust, with having been influenced, in part, at least, by other and higher aims than mere personal considera tions. If, from the standpoint of a southern soldier, I could suggest certain beneficent results of our sectional war, or if, as the comrade and friend of Lee, I could add any new facts illustrative of the character of Grant; or lastly, if I could aid in lifting to a higher plane the popular estimate placed by victor and vanquished upon their countrymen of the opposing section, and thus strengthen the sentiment of national fraternity as an essential element of national unity, I should, in either event, secure an abundant reward. Let me say before beginning my lecture that, although you are to listen tonight to a southern man, a southern soldier, yet I beg you to believe that he is as true as any man to this Republic's flag and to all that it truly represents. In selecting as my theme, '' The Last Days of the Confederacy," it is not my purpose to analyze the causes of its decline, nor attempt descriptions of the great battles which preceded its over throw. I propose to speak of those less grave but scarcely less important phases or incidents of the war which illustrate the spirit and character of the American soldier and people. Gettysburg and Appomattox fix the boundaries of the Confederacy's decline and death. At Gettysburg its sun reached its zenith and passed its meridian; at Appomattox it went down forever. Gettysburg, there fore, is the turning point, the dividing line between the aspiring and the expiring Confederate States of America. Among the interesting questions suggested by the battle of Gettysburg is the inquiry into the reasons or motives for southern invasion of northern soil. In this day of peace and plenty it is difficult to realize the force of some of the reasons I am about to mention. We were hungry; and as we stood on the heights of our Southern Pisgah, on the Potomac's bank "And viewed the landscape o'er" we beheld the valleys of Pennsylvania, fair, fertile, and grain-clad, stretching out in a most inviting panorama before us. Only the Potomac, 1612 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS like Jordan of old, rolled between us and that land of promise. To cross over and possess it, therefore, seemed the dictate both of military strategy and of empty stomachs. But there was another reason for crossing. Social reciprocity demanded it. We owed our northern cousins a large number of visits, and chivalric southrons could not ignore such obligations. "We had endeavored to cancel a part of the social debt by a visit to Maryland the summer before; but the reception given us by McClellan and his men at Antietam, or Sharpsburg, as we call it, while very hearty, did not encourage us to stay long. We concluded to postpone our visit further north till a more convenient season. That season seemed to arrive in '63, and we decided this time to test Pennsylvania's hospitality. There fore, for the reasons given, and for the additional reason that we desired closer communication with our northern kinspeople in order more effectually to persuade them to take General Scott's or Horace Greeley's advice and "let the wayward southern sisters depart in peace"; and, with appetites whetted to keenest relish by Pennsylvania's ripened wheat and fattened cattle, we rapidly and cheerfully crossed the Potomac, and then a few days later more rapidly and less cheerfully recrossed it. I think it due to historical accuracy and to a proper respect for social regulations, to explain that no discourtesy whatever was intended by our .unceremonious departure. Our visit was cut short by circumstances over which we did not have entire control, and for which we cannot be held exclusively responsible. Twenty months passed before our next visit. The war was over. We had changed our minds and had concluded not to set up a separate government. When we returned to you again, therefore, we came to stay. No more with hostile banner waving in defiance above gray-clad battle lines, but rallying now with all our countrymen around this common flag, whose crimson stripes are made redder and richer by southern as well as by northern blood, and whose stars are brighter because they emblem the glory of both northern and southern achieve ments. We returned, not with rifles in our hands, demanding separa tion as the price of peace, but with hands outstretched to grasp those of the North, extended in sincere and endless brotherhood. We returned, too, without lingering bitterness or puerile repining, but with a patriot ism, always broad and sincere, now intensified and refined in the fires of adversity, to renew our vows of fidelity to that unrivaled constitutional Government, bequeathed by our fathers and theirs; and by God's help to make with them the joint guarantee that this Republic and its people, and the states which compose it, shall remain united, co-equal, and for ever free. It was the fortune of my command to be separated from General Lee's army, after crossing into Pennsylvania, and to penetrate further into the heart of that state than any other Confederate troops, and to pass through that portion of Pennsylvania inhabited by what they call the Pennsylvania Dutch, an unwarlike, magnificent people, priding them selves on their well-cultivated fields, their colossal red barns, and horses nearly as big as barns. Some of those horses disappeared about that time from those barns, and by some strange coincidence they were found the next day securely tied in the Confederate camp. How they got there, GEORGIA AND GEOEGIANS 1613 whether through sympathy for the southern cause or were drafted into service, I never knew, and, to be honest about it, I never inquired; but they were there, and evidently without their owners' consent. This fact was soon made apparent by one of those owners announcing to me in his broken English, as well as I could understand him, that I had his mare. I endeavored to explain to this Pennsylvania Dutchman that we were obliged to take some of Pennsylvania's horses to pay for those the boys in blue had been taking from us. This explanation, which was entirely satisfactory to me, was not at all so to the Dutchman. He insisted that I pay him for his mare, and I at once offered to pay him full price in Confederate money. This he indignantly refused. Where upon I offered to give him, and in fact did give him, a written order for the full price of his mare, on President Abraham Lincoln, of the United States. This he liked much better. In fact, he was absolutely satisfied with this mode of settlement until there crept into his brain some doubt about my authority for drawing on the President of the United States. He had a good deal of difficulty in understanding by what right a Con federate general could draw on the President for money to pay for horses to serve in the Confederate army; and the more he thought of it the less light he had on the subject; and at last, when he saw the truth, he discharged at me a perfect volley of Dutch expletives, and ended by saying, '' I have been married three times, and I vood not geeve dot mare for all dose vomans." I relented and gave him back his mare. Now, the great injustice done by him to the womanhood of his state was made manifest a few days later by the heroic conduct of one of Pennsylvania's noblest daugh ters. The retreating Federals had fired the bridge which spanned the Susquehanna River at the Town of "Wrightsville, where lived this superb woman, whom I shall designate as "the heroine of the Susquehanna." Wrightsville would have been inevitably consumed but for the fact that my command was formed around the burning district, and at a late hour of night checked the flames. The house which would have been next consumed was that of this splendid woman of whom I am about to speak. Early the next morning she invited me to breakfast at her house, with my staff. Seated at her table was this modest, refined northern woman, surrounded by none except Confederate soldiers; but she was so digni fied, calm and kind that I at once imagined that I had found a southern sympathizer in the heart of Pennsylvania, and I ventured some remarks which indicated to her the thought that was on my mind. In an instant her eyes were flashing with patriotic fire, and she turned to me and said: '' General Gordon, I cannot afford, sir, to have you misunderstand me, nor to misinterpret this coxirtesy. You and your soldiers last night saved my home from burning, and I desire to give you this evidence of my appreciation; but my honor and loyalty to my soldier husband demand that I tell you plainly that I am a Union woman, that my husband and son are both in the Union army, with my approval, and that my daily prayer to Heaven is that the Union cause may triumph and our country be saved." My fellow-countrymen, I think that every gallant man, North, South, East and West, will echo the sentiment I am abotit to utter. It is this to my thought, a woman with such courage of conviction and with such 1614 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS a sense of duty to her country, expressed in the presence of a hostile enemy, deserves a lofty niche in patriotism's temple. And now I am sure this generous audience will pardon me if I ask what words of mine could measure the gratitude due from me and my comrades who wore the gray to glorious southern women for their part in that great struggle ? Of course, I was perfectly familiai*:with the Spartan courage and selfsacrifice of southern women in every stage and trial of that war. I had seen those patriotic women of our Southland sending their husbands and their fathers, their brothers and their sons, to the front, cheering them in the hour of disaster and tempering their joys in the hour of triumph. I had witnessed the southern mother's anguish, as with breaking heart and streaming eyes she gave to a beloved boy her parting blessing: '' Go, my son," she said, "to the front. I perhaps will never see you again; but I freely commit you to God and to the defense of your people.'' I had seen those southern women with the sick, the wounded, and the dying; and in the late stages of that war I had been made to marvel at their saintly spirit of martyrdom, standing, as it were, almost neck deep in the desolation around them, yet bravely facing their fate while the light of Heaven itself played around their divinely beautiful faces. And now I had found their counterpart in this heroine of the Susquehanna this representative of noble northern womanhood this representative of tens of thous'ands of American women, of whose costly sacrifices for country the world will never know. To my comrades, therefore, I submit this proposition, which I know their brave hearts to a man will echo. That proposition is, that these sufferings and sacrifices this devotion of the American women during that titanic conflict must remain through all the ages as cherished a memorial as the rich libations of blood poured out by their brave brothers in battle. But now to Gettysburg. That great battle could not be described in the space of a lecture. I shall select from its myriad of thrilling inci dents which rush over my memory, but two. The first I relate because it seems due to one of the bravest and knightliest soldiers of the Union army. As my command came back from the Susquehanna River to Gettysburg, it was thrown squarely on the right flank of the Union army; and the fact that that portion of the Union army melted was no dispar agement either to its courage or to its lofty American manhood, for any troops ever marshaled, the Old Guard itself, would have been as surely and swiftly shattered. It was that movement that gave to the Confed erate army the first day's victory at Gettysburg; and as I rode forward over that field of green clover, made red with the blood of both armies, I found a major-general among the dead and dying. But a few moments before I had seen the proud form of that magnificent Union officer reel in the saddle and then fall in the white smoke of1 the battle, and as I rode by, intently looking into his pale face, which was turned to the broiling rays of that scorching July sun, I discovered that he was not dead. Dismounting from my horse, I lifted his head with one hand, gave him water from my canteen, inquired his name and if he was badly hurt. He was Gen. Francis C. Barlow, of New York.. He had been shot from his horse while grandly leading a charge. The ball had struck him in front, passed through the body and out near the spinal cord, completely GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS , 1615 paralyzing him in every limb; neither he nor I supposed that he could live for an hour. I desired to remove him before death from that terrific sun. I had him lifted on a litter and borne to the shade in the rear. As he bade me good-bye in response to my inquiry what I could do for him he asked me to take from his side pocket a bunch of letters. Those letters were from his wife, and as I opened one at his request, and as his eye caught, supposably for the last time, that wife's signature, the great tears came like a fountain and rolled down his pale face; and he said to me, '' General Gordon, you are a Confederate; I am a Union soldier; but we are both Americans; if you should live through this dreadful war and ever see my wife, will you do me the kindness to tell my wife that you saw me on this field ? Tell her for me that my last thought on earth was of her; tell her for me that you saw her husband fall in this battle, and that he fell, not in the rear, but at the head of his column; tell her for me, General, that I freely gave my life to my country, but that my unutterable grief .is that I must now go without the privilege of seeing her once more, and bidding her a long and loving farewell.'' I at once said, "Where is Mrs. Barlow, General? Where could I find her?" for I was determined that wife should receive that gallant husband's message. He replied: '' She is very close to me; she is just back of the Union line of battle, with the commander-in-chief, at his headquarters." That announcement of Mrs. Barlow's presence with the Union army struck in this heart of mine another chord of deepest and tenderest sympathy; for my wife had followed me, sharing with her husband the privations of the camp, the fatigues of the march; again and again was she under fire, and always on the very verge of the battle was that devoted wife of mine, like an angel of protection and an inspira tion to duty. I replied: " Of course, General Barlow, if I am alive, sir, when this day's battle, now in progress, is ended if I am not shot dead before the night comes you may die satisfied that I will see to it that Mrs. Barlow has your message before tomorrow's dawn." And I did. The moment the guns had ceased their roar on the hills I sent a flag of truce with a note to Mrs. Barlow. I did not tell her I did not have the heart to tell her that her husband was dead, as I believed him to be; but I did tell her that he was desperately wounded, a prisoner in my hands, and that she :>should have safe escort through my lines to her husband's side. Late that night, as I lay in the open field upon my saddle, a picket from my front announced a lady on the line. She was Mrs. Barlow. She had received my note and was struggling, under the guidance of officers of the Union army, to penetrate my lines and reach her husband's side. She was guided to the place by my staff during the night. Early next morning the battle was renewed, and the following day, and then came the retreat of Lee's immortal army. I thought no more of that gallant son of the North, General Barlow, except to count him among the thousands of Americans who had gone down on both sides in the dreadful battle. Strangely enough, as the war pro gressed, Barlow concluded not to die; Providence decreed that he should live. He recovered and rejoined his command; and, just one year after that, Barlow saw that I was killed in another battle. The explanation is perfectly simple. A cousin of mine, with the same initials, Gen. J. B. Gordon, of North Carolina, was killed in a battle near Richmond. Bar- 1616 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS low, who, as I say, had recovered and joined his command although I knew he was dead, or thought I did picked up a newspaper and read this item in it: "Gen. J. B. Gordon, of the Confederate army, was killed today in battle." Calling his staff around him, Barlow read that item and said to them: "I am very sorry to see this; you will remember that Gen. J. B. Gordon was the officer who picked me up on the battlefield of Gettysburg and sent my wife through his lines to me at night. 1 am very sorry." Fifteen years passed. Now, I wish this audience to remember that, during all these fifteen years which intervened, Barlow was dead to me, and for fourteen of them I was dead to Barlow. In the meantime, the partiality of the people of Georgia had placed me in the United States Senate. Clarkson Potter was a member of Congress from New York. He invited me to dine with him, to meet his friend, General Barlow. Now came my time to think. "Barlow?" I said; "Barlow? That is the same name, but it can't be my' Barlow, for I left him dead at Gettysburg;" And I endeavored to understand what it meant, and thought I had made the discovery. I was told, as I made the inquiry, that there were two Barlows in the United States army. That satisfied me at once. I concluded, as a matter of course, that it was the other fellow I was going to meet; that Clarkson Potter had invited me to dine > with the living Barlow and not with the dead one. Barlow had a similar reflection about the Gordon he was to dine with. He supposed that I was the other Gordon. We met at Clarkson Potter's table. I sat just opposite to Barlow, and, in the lull of the conversation, I asked him: "General, are you related to the Barlow who was killed at Gettysburg?" He replied: "I am the man, sir." "Are you related," he asked, "to the Gordon who killed me?" "Well," I said, :"I am the man, sir." The scene which followed beggars all description. No language could describe that scene at Clarkson Potter's table in Washington, fifteen years after the war was over. Truth is, indeed, stranger than fiction. Think of it! What could be stranger? There we met, both dead, each of us presenting to the other the most absolute proof of the resurrection of the dead. But stranger still, perhaps, is the friendship, true and lasting, begun under such auspices. What could be further removed from the realip of probabilities than a confiding friendship between combatants, a friendship born on the field of blood, amidst the thunders of battle, and while the hostile legions rush upon each other with deadly fury and pour into each other's breasts their volleys of fire and of leaden hail. Such were the circumstances under which was born the friendship between Barlow and myself, and which, I believe, is more sincere because of its remarkable birth, and which has strengthened and deepened with the passing years. For the sake of our reunited and glorious Republic, may we not hope that similar ties will bind together all the soldiers of the two armies indeed, all Americans in perpetual unity until the last bugle call shall have summoned us to the eternal camping ground beyond the stars. Another incident of an entirely different character may be worth relating, as it illustrates the peculiarities and eccentricities of a promi- nent Confederate officer. Lieutenant-General Ewell had lost a leg in a ;.: :; : : |; Hi : 1 : i ;; ;! ; iiii :; . .1 i ::ii ' !;' ::: "1. .li.i Hi: ; :';; 1; : li .;;| H ;;' :;: -^lli; ill! ill :if!H : ill illl iif ::1 : ;|; If H II .iil i! lil ::| ! /I; ' >! GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1617 previous engagement, and supplied its place with a wooden one. During the progress of the battle of Gettysburg, we chanced to be riding together. The thud of a mine ball caught my ear, shattering, as I supposed, Gen eral Ewell's other leg. I quickly inquired: "Are you hurt?" He as quickly replied: "No, sir; but suppose that had been your leg; we would have had the trouble of carrying you off the field, sir. You see how much better prepared for a fight I am than you are 1 It doesn't hurt to be shot in a wooden leg, sir.'' This same eccentric officer, General Ewell, at another time, was riding out in front of my line, on what he called an independent scout of his own, and he rode most too far. A squadron of Union cavalry got after him and chased him back. He was riding one of the most magnificent animals that ever stood on four feet; and as he came flying in, closely pursued by the Union cavalry, my line opened fire ,on him and his pur suers, but he came in safely and, reining up to my lines, he opened fire on them of a different kind. He asked, in his peculiarly emphatic style: "What in the world are you shooting at me for? "Why don't you shoot at the other fellows?" They answered: "General, we are shooting at the other fellows, and you, too; but we did not know who you were.'' He replied: "Boys, that is a good excuse at this time, but you must be more careful; you might have killed the very finest mare in Lee's army.'' This crusty old bachelor married late in life; married a widow, a Mrs. Brown. Of course, after Mrs. Brown's marriage to General Ewell she became Mrs. Ewell to all the world except to him; but he always persisted in introducing her as "my wife, Mrs. Brown." The failure of the Confederate army at Gettysburg did not lower by one hair's breadth the confidence of Lee's men in the infallibility of that great commander. But I am bound to admit that the simultaneous fall of Vicksburg and the disaster of Gettysburg did set the southern boys to thinking, and right seriously, about the future; but they soon recovered and were ready to meet General Grant as he came from the southwestern campaigns with the green laurel of victory on his brow, and called us one fine morning in May, 1864, from our long winter's sleep on the banks of the Rapidan. We did not know as much about General Grant then as we found out after a while, but we had heard of him. Among other things we had heard of that U. S. in his name, which some Union prophet, without asking our advice about it, had changed from a simple "U. S." into those ominous words, "Uncondi tional Surrender." We could not see Grant for the underbrush in the wilderness, but we knew he was there. His morning salute to us at times was warm and prompt and unmistakable. Lee's response was equally royal in tone and hearty in character; but before saying anything more about these two old comrades, Lee and Grant, who you will remember had been separated from each other a number of years, had not seen each other in a great while, and they were just now coming up to meet each other in the wilderness, and, of course, were cheering and saluting each other with their big guns as they came along. Before saying any thing more about them, I want to pause in this story to give one or two incidents illustrative of the life of a private in that war. My country men, I must be pardoned for saying that when I recall the uncomplaining suffering, the unbought and poorly paid patriotism of those grand men, 1618 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS the American volunteers, who had no hope of personal honors, no stripes on their coats, no stars on their collars, who wore the knapsacks, trudged in the mud, leaving the imprint of their feet in their own blood on Vir ginia's snows when I recall these men who stood in the forefront of the battle, fired the muskets, won the victories, and made the generals, I would gladly write their names in characters of blazing stars that could never grow dim. I want to illustrate the life of a private. It will be remembered that the little stream of which I have spoken, the Rapidan, which, by the way, comrades, was called a river through courtesy it was a sort of brevet title, a promotion from a creek to a river on account of its long service probably in both armies it will be remembered that this little stream was for a long time the dividing line between the two great armies. It was so near that the pickets, on the two opposing sides, refused to fire at each other by common consent. When they did shoot, they shot jokes instead of rifles across the river at each other, and where the water was shallow they waded in and met each other in the middle and swapped southern tobacco for Yankee coffee; and where the water was too deep to wade in they sent those articles across in little boats, loaded on this side with southern tobacco, and sailed across. Then those little ships were loaded on the opposite bank and reloaded and sailed back with Yankee coffee for the Johnnies. Thus those two fighting armies kept up for a long time their friendly and international commerce; and so great, in fact, was that commerce that the commanders of both armies ordered it to stop. As a matter of course, the privates ignored the orders, and went on trading. General Lee sent for me and said: " I want you to take charge of my picket line, sir, and break up that trading." I rode along the picket lines and as I came suddenly around the point of a hill, on one of my picket posts, before they dreamed I was in the neighborhood, I found an amount of confusion such as I had never witnessed. I asked: "What is the matter here, boys? What does all this mean ?" "Nothing at all, sir," was the reply; "it is all right here; we assure you it is all right." I thought there was a good deal of assuring about it, and said so, when a bright fellow who saw there was some doubt on my brain, stepped to the front to get his comrades out of the scrape, and he began he was a stammering fellow he began: '' Oh, yes, G-g-g-general; it's all r-r-right; we were just getting r-r-ready, so we could present arms to you, if you should come along after a while.'' Of course, I knew there was not a word of truth in it, but I began to ride away. Looking back suddenly, I saw the high weeds on the bank of this little river shaking. I asked this fellow: "What is the matter with the weeds, sir? They seem to be in confusion, too." Badly frightened now, he exclaimed: '' Oh, G-g-general, there's nothing the matter with the weeds; the weeds are all right." I ordered: "Break down those weeds"; and there, flat on the ground, among those weeds,'was at least six feet of soldier, with scarcely any clothing on his person. I asked: '' Where do you belong ?'' '' Over yonder,'' he said, pointing to the Union army, '' on the other side.'' "What are you doing here, sir?" "Well," he.said, "General, I didn't think there was any harm in my coming over here and talking to the boys a little while." "What boys?" I asked. "These Johnnies," he GEORGIA AND GEOEGIANS 1619 said. '' Don't you know we are in the midst of a great war, sir 1" " Yes, General, 1 know we are having a war, but we are not fighting now." The idea of this Union boy, because we were not at this minute shooting each other to death, it was a proper occasion to lay aside arms and make social visits, one army to the other, struck me as the most laughable kind of war I ever heard of, and I could scarcely keep my face straight enough to give an order. But I summoned all the sternness of my nature and said: "I"will show you, sir, that this is war; I am going to march you throiigh the country and put you in prison." At this announcement my boys rushed to the fellow's defense. They gathered around me and said: "General, wait^a minute; let us talk about it. You say you are going to send this Union boy to prison. Hold on, General, that won't do; that won't do at all; we invited this fellow over here, and we promised to protect him. Now, General, don't you see, if you send him off to prison you will ruin our southern honor?" What could a commnder do with such boys? I made the Union man stand up and said to him: "Now, sir, if I permit you to go back at the solicitation of these Confederates, will you solemnly promise me on the honor of a soldier " He did not wait for me to finish my sentence. With a loud "Yes, sir," he leaped into the river and swam back. Now, my countrymen, I allude to that little incident for a far higher purpose than to excite your mirth. I want to submit a question in con nection with it. Tell me, my countrymen, where else on all this earth could you find a scene like that in the midst of a long and bloody war between two hostile armies? Where else could you find it? Among what people would it be possible except among this glorious American people, uplifted by our free institutions, and by that Christian civilization which was born in Heaven? The Eapidan suggests another scene to which allusion has often been made since the war, but which, as illustrative of the spirit of both armies, I may be permitted to recall in this connection. It was in the mellow twi light of an April day that the two armies were holding their dress parades on the opposite hills bordering the river. At the close of the parade a magnificent brass band of the Union army played with great spirit the patriotic airs, "Hail Columbia" and "Yankee Doodle." Whereupon the Federal troops responded with a patriotic shout. The same band then played the soul-stirring strains of Dixie, to which a mighty response came from ten thousand southern troops. A few moments later, when the stars had come out as witnesses and when all nature was in harmony, there came from the same band the old melody, '' Home, Sweet Home.'' As its familiar and pathetic notes rolled over the water and thrilled through the spirits of the soldiers, the hills reverberated with a thundering response from the united voices of both armies. What was there in this old, old music, so to touch the chords of sympathy, so to thrill the spirits and cause the frames of brave men to tremble with emotion ? It was the thought of home. To thousands, doubtless, it was the thought of that eternal home, to which the next battle might be the gateway. To thousands of others it was the thought of their dear earthly homes, where loved ones at that, twilight hour, were bowing around the family altar, and asking God's care over the absent soldier boy. I ask the audience to return with me now to that wild and weird 1620 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS wilderness of scrub oaks, chinkapins, and pines, where we left Grant and Lee, and in another part of which Hooker and Burnside fought, and Stonewall Jackson fell; and in which Grant was now greeting Lee for the first time in battle on that famous 5th of May, 1864. Lee and Grant in that wilderness "volleyed and thundered" their greetings and coun ter-greetings in the most lordly manner for two or three days. On the second day, while riding over the field covered with the dead, General Lee indicated by the peculiar'>'orders he gave me, his high estimate of General Grant's genius for war. He ordered me to move that night to Spottsylvania Court-House. I asked if scouts had not reported that General Grant had suffered heavy losses and was preparing to retreat. Lee's laconic answer revealed his appreciation, I repeat, of. the char acter and ability of his great antagonist. "Yes," he replied, "my scouts have brought me such reports; but General Gra,nt will not retreat, sir; he will move to Spottsylvania Court-House." I asked if he had infor mation to that effect. "No," he replied, "but General Grant ought to move to Spottsylvania. That is his best maneuver and he will do what is best.'' General Lee then added, '' I am so sure of it that I have had a short road cut to that point, and you will move by that route." This was Lee's prophecy. Its "notable fulfillment was the arrival of Grant's troops at Spottsylvania almost simultaneously with the head of the Confederate column and the beginning of the great battle of Spottsylvania. On this field occurred some of the most desperate fighting of the war. Winfield Scott Hancock, the superb, made his famous charge and brilliant capture of the bloody salient in the mist and darkness of that fatal morn ing the 12th of May. Here he sent to General Grant his characteristic field dispatch: " I have used' up Johnson and am going into Early.'' Here Lee, with his army cut in twain rode into the breech and, like Napoleon at Lodi, placed himself at the head of his reserves, resolved to recapture the salient or fall in the effort. Here, as he sat upon his horse in front of my lines, his head uncovered, his hat in hand, his face rigid and fixed upon the advancing foe, the Confederate soldiers exhibited that deathless devo tion to his person which knew no diminution even to the end. As I seized his bridle and called in the hearing of the men, "General Lee, this is no place for you you must go to the rear," my soldiers caught the words, and with electric spontaneity there came from my lines, in thunder-tones, "General Lee to the rear, General Lee to the rear," and they surrounded him and literally bore horse and rider to a place of safety. LI ere, under the inspiration of his majestic and magnetic pres ence, occurred that furious counter-charge, which swept forward with the resistless power of a cyclone, bearing all things down before it, driving Hancock back, and retaking a large portion of the salient. Here occurred that incessant roll of musketry for more than twenty hours, unparalleled in the annals of war, the storm of minie balls cutting away standing timber, piling hecatombs of dead Federals in front of the para pets and filling the inner ditches with dead and dying Confederates, upon whose prostrate bodies their living comrades stood to beat back with clubbed muskets the charging columns .of Grant as they rushed with frantic fury up the slippery sides of the blood-drenched breast works. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1621 My brother Americans, all the ages have claimed chivalry and cour age ; but I stand here tonight, with the fear of God. upon me, measuring my every .word, and throw down the challenge to all history. I chal lenge the proud phalanxes of Cyrus and Alexander, the Tenth Legion of Caesar, the Old Guard of Napoleon, or the heroic Highlanders of Scotland to furnish a parallel to that heroism, devotion, and self-sacri fice which was exhibited by those American boys, blue and gray, from sixty-one to sixty-five. All things began now to point to the Confederacy's certain and speedy death. Whether as these boys in blue claimed, they were begin ning then to whip us into submission or, as our boys claimed, we were . simply wearing ourselves out whipping them, it is a matter of no con sequence now. I want to pause a moment, in connection with that piece of innocent peasantry, to drop one thought; and, would to God for the sake of my country, I could send this thought ringing down the ages until it had found a lodgment in every American youth's brain for a hundred generations. That thought is this: That for the future glory of this republic, it is absolutely immaterial whether on this battlefield* or that, the blue or the gray won a great victory, for, thanks be to God, every victory won in that war, on either side, was a monument to Ameri can valor. It was no longer possible to fill our depleted ranks, except by con verting slaves into soldiers, and the proposition to free all the Southern negroes at once and arm them for Southern' defense became the great problem of the hour. It was no longer possible to feed Lee's army, and starvation literal starvation was doing its deadly work. So depleted and poisoned was the blood of our men from insufficient and unsound food, that the slightest wound in the finger, a mere scratch, would oftimes end in gangrene, blood-poisoning, and death. Young gentlemen, it was no uncommon sight to see your Southern brothers in Lee's army with sticks in their hands, picking grains of corn from under the feet of the half-starved horses, and washing that corn for soldier's food. We had to ration on corn quite often; and one night, after an unusually big ration of corn, I heard a great groaning down in my camp. I walked down and asked: "What is the matter with you, Jake? What in the world are you making all this noise about, sir ?" " Sick, Genergil,'' said he, "I am sick; I ate too much corn." But Jake was out next morn ing, and as I came out he hailed me: '' Hallo, General, I 'm all right this morning, I feel first rate; I ate a lot of corn last night, and now, if you will give me a good-sized bale of hay, I will be ready for the next fight.'' The crowning fact which gilds this gloom with a lasting radiance is that, amidst all this suffering, the spirit of the army was never broken. The grim humor of the camp waged incessant war against the spirit of despondency. One soldier would meet another and accost him thus: "Hallo, Bill, I advise.you to invest your month's pay in a bottle of the most powerful astringent, and contract your stomach to the size of your ration.'' It was impossible to secure hats enough to shelter the heads .of those brave boys from the winter's blast; but those rascally Confederates had a way of getting hats for themselves. I was on a train of cars going into Petersburg. A large number of old men were in the cars, coming up to Vol. Ill--23 1622 GEOEGIA AND GEORGIANS see the boys. Every one of those old men on the inside of the cars had a hat. Those boys on the outside in the army, who had no hats, wanted hats, were obliged to have hats, had stationed themselves along the rail road track in a long line, and in the hands of the man at the head they had put a tree-top. There he stood with his tree-top close to the rail road side; and as the train came sweeping by, they called: '' Look out!'' and the old men stuck out their heads, and hats, and the brush swept the hats. It was the fortune of my command to cover Lee's retreat, after the final break of our lines around Petersburg and Eichmond, and as we crossed the river at midnight and burned the bridges behind us, I carried on my spirit a load of woe which no language can describe. In addition , to the melancholy fate which had befallen Lee's army, I had left behind me in that desolated city that sweet and devoted wife who had followed me during the entire war; I had left that wife extremely ill in bed. But as I came back from the surrender, I found her still alive, and I found a fact for which I would gladly build with these hands a monument to the author of that fact I do not know whether that author was Gen eral Grant or some man like Grant; but this I do know that some knightly soldier with a blue uniform on his back had learned of her illness, and with a spirit worthy of an American freeman, had placed around the home &, guard of boys in blue, who protected her from a single intruder. I repeat, it was the fortune of my command to cover Lee's retreat, fighting all day, marching all night, with little food and no rest, with starvation claiming its victims at every mile of that march I would be an unfaithful chronicler, however, if I did not tell you that, even under those extreme conditions, that same spirit of fun-making was for ever present. Even the religious side of a soldier's life had its ridiculous phase now and then. There is not a man or woman in this' audience, who ever laughed at anything, who could have resisted it. There was a deep religious feeling in Lee's army. Prayer meetings were held wher ever possible. One was held at my headquarters. >A long, lank fellow, about so high, without education, but a brave soldier, knelt at my side and prayed. "Oh, Lord," he said, "we are having a mighty big fight down here and a sight of trouble, and we do hope, Lord, that you will take a proper view of this subject, and give us the victory." Another prayer meeting was held, at which there was present an old fellow a one legged soldier; his leg had been taken off close to the hip joint; he had been sent home, of course, but had come back on a visit, and was in the prayer meeting. His leg was taken off so short that he could not kneel down in prayer, as the boys were in the habit of doing; he had to sit up; so he sat up while Brother Jones prayed. Brother Jones was praying for more manhood, more strength, more courage. This old onelegged Confederate could not stand that sort of a prayer for more cour age at that stage of the game, any longer; so right in the middle of the prayer he called out: "Hold on there, Brother Jones, hold on there, sir; don't you know you are just praying all wrong? Why don't you pray for more provisions 1 We have got more courage now than we have any use for." This broke up the prayer meeting.. Another one was held, this time in a little log cabin on the roadside, by officers in high com mand ; and one general officer stepped to the door of the little log cabin, GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1623 in which we were assembled, and beckoned to another general officer passing by, to come in and participate in the prayer meeting. The other general officer did not understand exactly what was wanted with him; so he replied, "No, I thank you, General, no more at present; I have just had some.'' My command was now thrown to the front; and, on the evening of the 8th of April, the day before the final surrender, we struck that cor don of bayonets which General Grant had thrown across the line of our retreat at Appomattox. Then came the last sad Confederate council of war. It was called by Lee to meet at night. It met in the woods by his lonely bivouac fire. There was no tent, no table, no chairs, no campstools ; on blankets spread upon the ground, we sat around the great com mander. A painter's brush might transfer to canvas the physical fea tures of that scene, but no tongue or pen could describe the unutterable anguish of those broken-hearted commanders as they sat around their beloved leader and looked into his now beclouded face and sought to draw from it some ray of hope. I shall not attempt to describe that scene; but I would be untrue to myself and to Lee's memory if I did not say of him that, in no hour of that great war, did his masterful char acteristics appear to me so conspicuous as they did then and there, as he stood in that lonely woodland, by that low-burning fire, surrounded by his broken followers; and yet stood so grandly, so clamly, facing and discussing the long-dreaded inevitable. It was resolved at that last council that my wing of the army, now in front, should attempt at daylight the next morning to cut its way through Grant's line. We moved at daylight; and this audience will pardon the pride which impels me to say that, in battle of that great war, was there a prouder record of American valor ever written than was then and there made by that little band of poorly clad and starving American heroes who followed my standard in that last charge of the war ? As I fought to the front, Longstreet was compelled to fight to the rear, so that every foot of advance by either of us simply widened the breech between the two wings of Lee's army such was Grant's mag nificent strategy; and it was at this hour, while I was desperately fight ing in every direction around me, that I received the last note from General Lee. It was to inform me that there was a flag of truce between General Grant and himself, stopping hostilities, and that I should notify the Union commanders in my front of that fact. The audience will understand that no unnecessary delay occurred in sending out that information. I called for my chief of staff and said: "Take a flag of truce and bear this message to the Union commanders quick.'' He soon informed me that we had no flag of truce. '' Oh, well,'' I said,'' take your handkerchief and tie it on a stick, and go." He said, "General, I have no handkerchief.'' I ordered, '' Tear your shirt and put that on a stick, and go.'' He looked at his shirt and then at mine, and said, '' I have on a flannel shirt; I see you have; there is not a white shirt in the whole army." I said, "Get something, sir get something, and go; and he got a rag and rode to the front, and soon he returned, and with him one of the most superb horsemen that ever sat upon a saddle; and as I looked into his flashing eyes, with his long curls falling to his shoulders, I found myself in the presence of that afterwards great Indian fighter, that man 1624 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS who ought forever to hold a place in every American heart, the gallant Ouster. With a wave of his sword, which embodied all the graces of the school, he said to me: "General Gordon, I bring you the compliments of General Sheridan." Very fine, wasn't it? He added, however, "I also bring, sir, General Sheridan's demand for your immediate and uncon ditional surrender" which was not quite so fine. I replied, "You will please return, General, my compliments to General Sheridan, and say to him that I shall not surrender." The audience will understand that it required no vast amount of courage to send that sort of a message in view of the flag of truce which forbade any more fighting. Soon a white flag was seen in my front, and beneath its silken folds rode Philip Sheri dan and his escort. I rode out to meet him, and between Sheridan and myself occurred a similar controversy'; he had received no message from General Grant about a flag of truce; the message had miscarried, and I am quite satisfied that Sheridan happened to be about that time, as he always was, in a place too hot for the messenger to want to find him; but upon my presenting to him the autograph letter from General Lee, it was agreed that we order the firing to cease, and withdraw our lines to certain points. This was done, and Sheridan and I dismounted and sat together on the ground. It would require the pen of a master to describe the succeeding events. In the little brick house where they meet, Lee and Grant presented a contrast as strangely inconsistent with the real situation as it was un precedented and inconceivable. Had any one of this audience, unac quainted with the facts, suddenly appeared in that room, you would have selected Lee for the victor, and Grant as the -vanquished hero; and, when you had analyzed the reasons for this marvclous contrast, your con ception of the great characteristics of the two men, and your admiration for each, would have risen to a still higher plane. There stood Lee, dressed as a mark of respect to Grant, in his best1 uniform, unbent by misfortune, sustaining by his example the spirits of his defeated com rades, and illustrating in his calm and lofty bearing the noble adage which he afterwards announced that the "virtue of humanity ought .always to be equal to its trials.'' I had seen him before in defeat, as well as in the hour of triumph, with the exultant shouts of his victorious legions ringing in his ears. I was familiar with the spirit of self-abnegation with which he had severed his allegiance to the general Government, and, like old John Adams, had resolved that "sink or swim, survive or perish," he would cast his fortunes with those of his people. I had learned from long and intimate association with him that, unlike Caesar and Alexander and Bonaparte, and the great soldiers of history, the goal of his ambition was not glory but duty, that it was true of him as of few men who have ever lived that distance, in his case, did not lend enchantment, hut that the nearer you approached him the greater and grander he grew. And now, self-poised and modest, bearing on his great heart a mountain-load of woe, with the light t>f an unclouded conscience upon his majestic brow, with an innate dignity and nobility of spirit rarely equalled and never excelled, this central figure of the Confederate cause rose, in this hour of supremest trial, at least in the estimation of his followers, to the lofti est heights of the morally sublime. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1625 There, 'too,,was Grant peace to his ashes and forever cherished be his memory his slouch hat in hand, his plain blue overcoat upon his shoulders, making Math Lee a contrast picturesque and unique. Grave, unassuming and considerate, there was upon his person no mark of rank; there was about him no air of triumph nor trace of exultation. Serious and silent, except in kindly answers to questions, he seemed absorbed in thought, and evidently sought to withdraw, if-in his power, the bitter sting' of defeat from the quivering sensibilities of his great antagonist. Some of his responses to questions have already gone into history. His replies were marked" by a directness, simplicity, force, and generosity, in keeping with the character of the magnanimous conqueror who uttered them. They were pregnant with a pathos and a meaning- to the defeated Confederates, which can only be understood by a full comprehension of the circumstances, and of the nobility of*spirit and of the lofty sen timent which inspired them. But General Grant rose, if possible, to a still higher plane, by his subsequent threat of self-immolation on the altar of a soldier's honor, and by his heroic declaration of the inviolabil ity and protecting power of Lee's parole; and by invoking almost with his dying lips, the spirit of peace, equality, fraternity, and unity among all of his countrymen. These evidences of Grant's and Lee's, great characteristics ought to live in history as an inspiration to future generations. They ought to live on pages at .Least as bright as those which record their military and civic achievements. They ought to be inscribed on their tombs in char acters as fadeless as their fame and as enduring as the life of the Republic. Outside of that room the scenes were no less thrilling or memorable. When the Confederate battle-flags had been furled forever, and as a Confederate corps inarched to the point where its arms were to be stacked, it moved in front of the division commanded by that knightly soldier, Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain, of Maine. That brilliant officer called his command into line and saluted the Confederates at present arms, as they tiled by, a final and fitting tribute of northern chivalry to southern courage. The briny tears that ran down the haggard and tanned faces of the starving Confederates; the veneration and devotion which they displayed for the tattered flags which had so long waved above them in the white smoke of the! battle; the efforts secretly to tear those bulletrent banners from their supports and conceal them in their bosoms; the mutually courteous and kindly greetings and comradeship between the soldiers of the hitherto hostile armies; their anxiety to mingle with each other in friendly intercourse; the touching and beautiful generosity dis played by the Union soldiers in opening their well-filled haversacks and dividing their rations with the starving Confederates these and a thou sand other incidents can neither be described in words nor pictured on the most sensitive scrolls of the imagination. No scene like it in any age was ever witnessed at the close of a long and bloody war. No such termi nation of intestine and internecine strife would be possible, save among these glorious American people. It was the inspiration of that enlight ened and Christian civilization developed by the free institutions of this unrivalled and heaven-protected republic. While political passion has now and then, and for brief .periods, dis turbed this auspicious harmony, yet what a marvel of concord, of power, 1626 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS and of progress, is presented for the contemplation of mankind by this reunited country. The bloodiest war of the ages, with its embittered alienations, all in the past; its lessons and immortal memories a guide and an inspiration for all the future. Emerging from this era of pas sion, of strife, and of carnage, with a national life more robust, a national peace more secure, and a national union more complete and enduring, we call the fettered millions of earth to follow our lead and strike for republican liberty. As the vanguard, the color-bearers in the inarch of nations, we lift aloft this proud banner of freedom and bid universal Humanity to catch its inspiration. By the memory of the fathers who bequeathed us this priceless heri tage; by the names and deeds of northern heroes, living and dead; by the sacrifices and measureless woes endured by southern womanhood; by the heroic devotion and dauntless courage of the South's sons which devotion and courage, exhibited in defense of the dead Confederacy, have been transmuted by the hallowing touch of time into consecrated services to this living and glorious Republic by all these we unite in solemn compact that this American people shall know intestine war no more; but shall forever remain an unbroken brotherhood from sea to sea by all these, and by the resistless fiat of an inexorable American sentiment, we proclaim that the American flag shall protect every American citizen on all oceans and in all lands. And in God's own time, it may be his will that this flag shall become omnipotent over every acre . of soil on the North American continent. But whatever be the geographical limits over which destiny decrees it to float as the symbol of our national sovereignty, there shall at least be no boundaries to its moral sway; but as long as political truth triumphs or liberty survives this flag of our fathers shall remain the proudest and most potential emblem of human liberty in all the world. PETER FRANCISCO SMITH: THE OLD-TIME SLAVE [Mr. Smith was one of the ablest advocates of his day at the Georgia bar and one of the ripest scholars a man of rare culture and of wide in formation. He published a number of legal text-books, in addition to a work on the correct use of words. His eulogy of Senator Hill, delivered while a member of the Georgia House of Representatives, in 1882, was unsurpassed by any effort of eloquence which the senator's death evoked; and his tribute to the old-time slave is a literary classic which well de serves a place in this work in order that its charm of tender sentiment may be transmitted to future generations. Mr. Smith died in 1.912.] By the precious and holy memories of the past, we pay this willing and loving tribute to the character of the old-time slave. From the wilderness of bloom that decks the fields where he lived and moved, we bring one simple flower to lay on his inanimate dust. Many of them have passed the river, and roam, the green fields beyond the swelling flood. A few of that best and noblest type of the race still liugeringly await their summons to join the majority on the other side. Strangers and pilgrims in the earth, buffeted by the fickle caprice of fortune, their weary feet are brushing the dews on Jordan's bank and their ears catch GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1627 the faint murmurs of the breakers on the shores. May they find a shal low ford. The little log cabin is crumbling. Its battered doors swing on rusty hinges, and the rude key and ruder lock have parted forever. The vine that sheltered the humble portal is withered, and the watchdog's honest bark is heard no more. Half hidden by thorn and thistle it stands a sad reminder of "departed joys, departed never to return." Dearer to memory than lofty dome or gilded palace, the very ground on which it stands is holy. The shadows of the fitful flame no longer play on' its desolate hearth, and tenantless and dreary the rude winds murmur through the chinks. The cricket has hushed its plaintive song. The owl and the bat seek shelter amid its ruins. Rank weeds have hidden the old familiar path, winding its way around the hill, and there is nothing to remind us of auld lang syne. And how lonely, how sadly the gray-haired old sires wander up and down in the earth and hum the song of the weary pilgrim: "No foot of land do I possess No': cottage in the wilderness.'' What sweet and glorioi\s memories linger about the old homestead and the "little log cabin by the lane!" Even to one not given to the :, melting mood, each hallowed spot demands the tribute of a tear. The playground beneath the venerable and umbrageous oak, the verdant fields and the new-mown hay; the bubbing fountain and the rustic seats; the velvet lawn and the winding brook; the honeysuckle and the rose, and ten thousand other charms crowd on the memory; and how gladly we would feel again their inspiration and once more quench our thirst in "The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, The moss-covered bucket that hangs in the well." But what would all these glorious memories be to us without the old uncles and aunties of Our childhood? The dear old souls who have long since put off this mortal and been clothed in robes immortal. "With what romantic interest their lives were invested and how it deepens with the lapse of years! The shovel and the hoe lie rusting in the hedge, and the old scythe has lost its cunning fingers. No more the yellow grain bends to its glit tering edge, for the songs of the harvest are hushed and the hands of the reaper are still. The fiddle and the bow are gone, and gone the young hearts their wild strains did ravish. Once their irresistible witchery charmed the wee sma' hours and inspired the song and dance the live long night. But the hands which wooed its wild notes will touch its vibrant chords no more. Stringless and tuneless and mute, the sweetest relic of the long ago, it sleeps with the echoes its music waked. And the springs have run dry, and the well-known stream has van ished with its source. We seek in vain the spots where the patient fisher man watched the tremulous line, by the light of the torch, and won the fickle finny tribe with the conjured bait. But Old Black Joe and his mysterious tackle are gone, and faded his tracks on the mossy banks. Age and toil had whitened his head and bent his form, and he passed from the shadow of his cabin to the light beyond the stars. The shadows 1628 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS lengthened and lengthened to the east until his last sun sank to rest in the sea. The patriarch watched its fading splendors. His humble lifework was finished. His ear caught the echoes of angelic choirs and he went to meet them with a song in his heart: "I'm coming, I'm coming, For my head is bending low; I hear their gentle voices calling Old Black Joe." The old-time darky was a philosopher. His thoughts never ranged beyond the smoke of his cabin. Content with food and raiment, his little patch of ground, and at peace with all the world, he cheerfully and proudly drove his team afield. He was a Christian. He "saw God in the clouds and heard him in the wind." If he sinned much, he prayed often, and his repentance was instantaneous and evangelical. He praised God in song all the days of his pilgrimage, and the sweet melody of his unpremeditated hymns echoed around the earth. To his unquestioning faith the groves, the hills, the fields and his cabin were the temples of the living God. He was a poet; the eldest child of nature, rocked in her cradle and nurtured at her breast. He knew the language of birds and flowers. He conversed with all the dwellers of the forest and knew their speech by heart. He listened in wild rapture to the rustle of waving harvest, sniffed their fragrance and breathed the very breath of song. Pie was a true and faithful friend; true to his old master; true to his children and his children's children unto the third and fourth genera tion. If there was an occasional predatory excursion his wayward feet never invaded a neighbor's field. He consumed what his toil had made and the good Lord forgave him. God bless the forlorn and ragged rem nants of a race now passing away. God bless the old black hand that rocked our infant cradles, smoothed the pillow of our infant sleep and fanned the fever from our cheeks. God bless the old tongue that.im mortalized the nursery rhyme; the old eyes that guided our truant feet: and the old heart that laughed at our childish freaks. God bless the dusky old brow, whose wrinkles told of toil and sweat and sorrow. May the green turf rest lightly on their ashes and the wild flowers deck every lonely grave where "He giveth His beloved sleep." May their golden dreams of golden slippers, of golden streets, of golden harps and of golden crowns have become golden realities. THOMAS E. WATSON: THE OLD SOUTHERN HOME [Extract from an address delivered at a great rally of the Farmers' National Union, held in Atlanta, Georgia, January 22, 1907. Mr. Wat son was a representative from Georgia in the Fifty-second Congress. He was the candidate of the people's party for vice president in 1896, and for president in 1904. As a writer, Mr. Watson has achieved high dis tinction. His "Story of France" is a recognized classic; while his "Napoleon" and his "Thomas Jefferson" have likewise secured for him a well-deserved eminence in the world of letters. Only a portion of his speech before the Farmer's National Union is here reproduced. Said he, in part:] GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1629 Time was when the South was the home of a happy, prosperous, con tented people. True, we had slaves, but they were the best slaves that the world ever knew. When they were too weak to work, they were not made to work they were left to play about the grove and the yard. AVhen the slaves were sick they were not driven to their tasks nor for gotten and neglected; they were not left to die the doctor was sent, medicine was sent, food suited to the condition of the sick was sent; and when too old to work, the old slave, male or female, was secure in his or her cabin home for the remainder of life. New England made war upon that system, and drenched the continent with blood to stamp it out. In the place of that, she has established another slavery not of the black people, but of the white people, and in that slavery, the child is made to work, the sick are neglected and left to die, and, when dead, are carted off to the potter's field, and the old are turned out as they used to turn the horses out to graze about until they starved. DeTocqueville said, in his work on America, that aristocracy would come upon us through this protective system, and it would be the harshest aristocracy that history ever knew. It is harsh; it has no heart and soul in it; it is built upon a theory that takes from agriculture and gives to manufacture, and we are going to fight it until we compel the manufacturer to be content with a share that will not hog the whole business. Ah, that old southern home! You can call it up in your minds tonight so can I. Just as when the soldiers in camp sang the song which re minded them of home, '' each one recalled a different name, but all sang Annie Laurie." So tonight, when I speak of home, of the old home of the South, each one will recall a different scene, but all of it will be the old home of the South, before the war. The noble trees stood before the house. . It may not have been a mansion it was more frequently a cot tage, but not the less commodious and comfortable for that. The noble trees, the oak, the hickory, the maple, the ruby-crested holly that had stood there for generation after generation. .How' delightful it was in the spring to notice when the sap would begin to rise and swell the buds stirred them with life until some morning when we stepped out, the tender flags of green floated all over the grove. You remember how the trees moaned when the wind moaned; how they roared when the storm raged; how they sighed when the hushed night fell down. Do you remem ber how the mocking bird chased his mate in and out among the boughs, she pretending not to want to be caught, with that pretty coquetr'y which belongs to all the more refined specimens of feminine gender throughout the world? Not discouraging him by getting too far from him, not making him lose heart in the chase, just staying far enough apart to keep up the lover's ardor but at length they came to terms in the old, old way, and the nest was built for the little family that was to come. As the summer went on, and as the trees took on the full leaf, how beautiful it was to see the mottled shadows which softened the blazing sunlight of our southern sun; and at night every leaf upon the oak seemed to be a looking glass, and the moonbeams, like pretty girls, were looking at them selves in it. And then, you remember the evenings after supper, when the old people gathered on the front veranda to talk of old times, how we children used to stretch out on the floor, listen to the katydids in the trees, and with that lullaby in our ears, got to sleep> in that innocent sleep of 1630 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS childhood. On one side of the houseyard stood the orchard; you remem ber it? The trees were not those grafted one from the nurseries. They were seedlings; their lineage ran back, perhaps, to the Indian days. How brilliantly beautiful was her royal highness, the peach tree, stand ing there arrayed in her robe of pink, daintily dressed in her vestments of pink, breathing subtile incense upon the amorous air, trembling when the lover-wind threw his arms around her, blissful at the touch and the kiss of the sunbeams the fairest, daintiest daughter that nature ever let forth to greet an April day! And you remember the apple orchard the May apple, that was mellow, sweet and tender; the June apple which re minded you of "Araby the Blest," and the common, but most satisfac tory, old horse apple. The nurserymen have done wonders since then, but they have not beat these three old favorites. There was the old apple tree in which the bluebirds made their nests, and you loved to go there and see the nest, and later, the fledged birds. As you gazed in rapt admira tion at the wonderful wreath of blossoms that crowned the apple tree, you wondered to yourself whether the queen of Sheba when she went to visit the Jewish king, ever wore a tiara so magnificent as that; and whether Solomon in all his glory ever had a mantle so beautiful as the drifted apple blossoms beneath the tree the drifted blossoms that sug gested a snowstorm in some far-off paradise, where even the suownakes had learned to blush, and to breathe the fragrance of sweet old recol lections? And you must not forget the flower garden. Ah, that beauty spot in the home of the old South! Many a time now you walk down its path, side by side with your mother, gathering flowers. You remember where the lilac bush stood; you remember where the hyacinth and the snowdrop first came up; you. remember where the rosebush grew; you remember the pansy and violet beds; and, although today the roses are as red as ever and pinks as sweet, there are no flowers that are quite the same to you, as the roses, the pinks and the violets, the old-fashioned flowers that used to grow in the old home garden in that home of the old South. Where is it? Oh, the home of the old South, where is it? It is gone. It is a piece of property yet, but it is not the home any more. The family moved out and went to town forced to do it by circumstances and conditions. Who is living in the house? Negro tenants. Where are the windows ? All smashed out. Where is the chimney ? Leaning on a rail fence. Where is the flower garden, the orchard? All in the cotton patch. Three or four mangy, flea-bitten dogs are lying at the front door. On the outside you may find a great big negro fellow dying with pneu monia, because he wore shoes that were out at the bottom, and he is prob ably lying on a twenty-two dollar bed I have seen that myself. Per haps a twenty-dollar calendar clock sits on the mantel and tells that negro when it is time to get up and go to work and then he does not do it. Sooky Jane has got a $75 organ in the parlor. Her father mortgaged everything he had to get it. And) the $150 mule has $75 of his value knocked out of him because the negro would not buy a $2 collar for the $150 mule to keep the hames from off his shoulder bone. Can we not redeem the homes of the old South? [A voice: "Yes."] Shall we not do it ? When the country b.oy comes to town and gets rich, what is his dream ? That he will make for himself an ideal country home. Why can we not have an ideal country home like that our fathers had? GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1631 We must have it. Let the cry of the farmer be: " Back to the country home!" Let's quit this breaking up and going to town. Let's go back and plant our banners on the old red hills and swear by the God that made us that we will redeem the old home of the South. * * * Some years ago, thirty years ago, the great Ben Hill stood here in Atlanta receiving a flag from Ohio, and with that eloquence of his which no one could imitate, said in conclusion:'' Flag of our Union! Wave on! wave ever! but wave over free men and not over subjects. Wave over States and not over provinces! Wave on, flag of our fathers! wave for ever! but wave over a nation of equals, and not over depotism of lords and vassals; over a land of law, liberty and peace, not of anarchy, oppres sion and strife.'' Thirty years have gone by and the prayer remains unanswered. The South is still a province, exploited by the North. We have yet to pray for a union of equals, for there is no equality in our relations. There is still the oppression of unjust laws. Oh, my friends! Here tonight in the presence of the gathered men of the entire South, I pledge my word and honor that to the extent of my power, everything that I can do with pen or tongue to help these brave men build up the cause of the southern people shall be done, without money and without price, without reward or the hope thereof. From the North Carolina shore, where the Atlantic washes the crags of the Old North State, on out to the Pacific and where the South Sea washes the sands, I intend to go with him this year and unfold your flag wherever the opportunities and the people are ready for it. I want no office, no. I want to help you make good men out of your boys. I want to do all I can to help you build back into prosperity your desolated homes, so that the chain of special privilege being broken, the laws which oppress you being removed, a square deal being given you some other speaker, ten years from now, can stand right here and can then say: "Wave on, flag of our Union! Wave ever! For thou dost wave over free men and not over subjects! Thou dost wave over States and not over provinces. Wave on, flag of our fathers. Wave forever! For thou dost wave over a union of equals and not over a despotism of lords and vassals! Thou dost wave over a land of law, liberty and peace, not of anarchy, oppression and strife." HENRY T. LEWIS : NOMINATING WILLIAM J. BRTAN FOR PRESIDENT [Mr. Bryan's famous Cross of Gold speech made him the central figure of the great Chicago Convention, of 1896. It was a masterpiece of elo quence. On the morning after its delivery, the peerless Nebraskan re ceived the democratic nomination for President. The speech presenting Mr. Bryan's name to the convention on this occasion was made by a Georgian, Judge Henry T. Lewis, afterwards an occupant of the Supreme Bench of this state. Though brief,- this speech,was itself an oratorical gem, but its special significance lies in the fact that it formally placed in nomination for the high office of President a man whose superb leader ship was destined to mold the fortunes of the national democracy for more than a generation and to dominate one of the most dramatic eras in the history of American politics: The speech was as follows:] 1632 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention: I do not intend to make a speech, but simply on behalf of the delegation on this floor from the State of Georgia, to place in nomination, as the democratic candidate for the presidency of the United States, a distinguished citizen, whose very name is an earnest of success, whose political record will insure democratic victory, and whose life and character are loved and honored by the American people. Should public office be bestowed as a reward for public service ? Then no man more than he merits this reward. Is public office a public trust ? Then in no other hands can be more safely lodged this greatest trust in the gift of a great people. Was public office created for the welfare of the public and for the prosperity of the country ? Then, under his lead ership in the approaching campaign, may we confidently hope to achieve these great ends in human government. In the political storms which have hitherto swept over this country he has stood on the field of battle, among the leaders of the democratic hosts, like Saul among the Israelites, head and shoulders above the rest. As Mr. Preiitiss said of the immortal Clay so we can truthfully say of him that '' his civic laurels will not yield in splendor to the brightest chaplet that ever bloomed upon a warrior's brow.'' Sir, lie needs no speech to introduce him to this convention. He needs no encomium to commend him to the people of the United States. Honor him, fellow democrats, and you will honor yourselves. Nominate him and you will reflect credit upon the party you represent. Place in his hands the democratic standard and you will have a leader worthy of your cause and will win for yourselves the plaudits of your constitu ents and the blessings of posterity. I refer, fellow citizens, to the Hon. William J. Bryan, of the State of Nebraska. EMOBY SPEEB : THE NEW AMERICA [Alumni oration delivered by Judge Emory Speer, of the United States Court for the Southern District of Georgia, at the Centennial Cele bration of the University of Georgia, June 18, 1901.] Mr. President, Members of the Alumni Society, Ladies and Gentlemen: On one of the supreme days of my college life, some thirty-two years ago, was celebrated the sixty-eighth anniversary of the Demostheiieaii Society. The students, encouraged by a noble corps of professors, assem bled in this time-honored chapel, hallowed by myriad associations. Nor were we without that inspiration which flows from the sweet presence of gentle beings, some of whom today enliven this occasion with charms possibly more mature but not less engaging than their springtime loveli ness reproduced now in their daughters and granddaughters in all the enchantment of youthful beauty and bloom. Our dear Chancellor, Dr. Lipscomb, in graceful phrase and benignant manner introduced the orator of the day. His theme was, "A New America," the new America in wealth, in thought, in might, in majesty, in world influence and power, which the college orator deemed would follow the storm-wave of revolu tion from which the country had scarcely emerged. The oration has perished. The aimiversarian you honor with,your attention now. The GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS ' 1633 theme, momentous, vital, and ever augmenting, survives to bewilder the student of historical precedent, to stagger the powers of prophecy, at times to awaken the alarm, but ever in the end to intensify, to elevate and to expand the exultation of the patriot. The America of 1869, with its metamorphosis from an established past, would not have been more amazing to Patrick Henry's three mil lions armed for liberty, than would the America of today to that gather ing in this chapel, not yet a generation gone. The astonishing growth of our country since that time is appreciated by even the average under standing, but its astounding and resplendent power is scarcely conceiv able by an imagination even Miltonic. That ours is one, if not the great est, of the world powers is now acknowledged of all men. Said Mulhall, the famous English statistician: "If we take a survey of mankind in ancient or modern times, as regards the physical, mechanical and intel lectual force of nations, we find nothing to compare with the United States.'' Sir Henry M. Stanley, whose almost superhuman conquest of the ferocious savages and undetermined expanses of the African wilder ness imparts peculiar weight to his words, declared, when speaking of our countrymen, that "Treble their number of ordinary Europeans could not have surpassed them in what they have done. The story of their achievements reads like an epic of the heroic age." Such are the conclusions of competent and disinterested contemporary observers, and such testimony may be unceasingly cumulated. The facts are astound ing. In ten years the census records that we have increased over thirteen millions, an increase equal to the population of six states as large as our own imperial Georgia, For a thousand years the meteor flag of England has braved the battle and the breeze; for little more than a hundred the Stars and Stripes' have floated the flag of the freeman's home and hope, and yet while the Seventh Edward may summon to his standards the soldiers of the king from 39,000,000 of his subjects in the British Isles, when the representatives of the people declare that America shall cast away the olive and seize the sword, from 76,000,000, our executive may summon to the flag the fighting men. of that indomitable strain which at New Orleans crushed the onset of the veterans.of "Wellington, at Buena Vista rolled back the serried columns of Santa Anna, which planted the colors on the battlements of Vera Cruz, climbed the Cordilleras and stacked their arms in the halls of the Montezumas; and in later days, in deadlier, fratricidal strife, on many a stricken field by many a historic flood, grappled in the agony of battle with all the swerveless courage of the race which has taken no step backward from the time when our Teu tonic sires expelled the legions of Varus from the German woods, to that good day when the bayonets of our brethren turned out the Spaniard from the trenches of San Juan. Though ever indispensable to national character, it is not alone in the military power of its people that our country excels. In the foot tons of the scientist the industrial forces of a nation are now measured, and the same English authority I have cited has recently calculated that 129,306,000,000 in foot tons is the measure of industrial energy exerted every working day by the people of the United States. Nor does this estimate include the magnificence of our hydraulic power, or that myste- 1634 ' GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS rious agency, electricity,, which has been harnessed and reduced to servi tude by the genius of our inventors. Would you consider the result in national wealth of this gigantic national potency ? Contemplate thirty years of the nation's life, from 1860 to 1890. For more than four years of that period all the foot tons of American power were directed by all the Furies. A million producers perished, the value of 3,000,000 slaves vanished, the maritime comm'erce of the nation was swept from the 'seas. Reconstruction, a saturnalia of venality, repudiation and despair followed. Yet in the period named, debiting ourselves with all the fearful cost of war, the cost of living and of government, our countrymen made and saved $49,000,000,000, $1,000,000,000 more than all the treasures of the British people put together. When we examine the items of this accumulation of national wealth, we ascertain facts of vast significance to our future. The value of our food products not only surpasses those of any other nation, but astonishing as it may seem, they form nearly one-third of those varied fruits of the earth which the benignity of the Creator has provided for the sustenance of man. To speak with substantial precision: although the United States has but one-fifth of the world's population, we produce 32 per cent of all the food consumed by man. It is probable indeed that these are short. of the true facts, for in a late number of that charming periodical The Youth's Companion, it is stated by lion. William R. Merriam, director of the census, that while it is yet too early for positive figures the bureau has already received returns from almost 6,000,000 farms, probably onethird more than were returned by the last census. And with what pride can we point to our contributions towards clothing our fellow men! The cultivation of the cotton plant, and its adaptation to the uses of man, date from the earliest times. It is said that the millions of Xerxes which confronted the heroic Athenians on the plains of Marathon were clad in cotton cloth, products of Persia and of the Indies. Known for centuries in both hemispheres and widely diffused, it is a singular fact that for more than two centuries after the discovery of America, cotton was unknown in what is now the' cotton belt of the United States. In the Georgia Historical Collections, we find that Francis Moore, who visited Savannah in 1735 recounts, "At the bottom of the hill, well sheltered from the north wind * * * there was a collection of West India plants and trees and some coffee, some coeoanuts, cotton, etc." At a later period we learn that, while stationed on St. Simons Island, the soldiers of General Oglethorpe's regiment, many of whom were married, were granted small lots of land, and Samuel Seabrook writes, "The soldiers raise cotton and their wives spin it and knit it into stockings." It is perhaps not to be questioned that descendants of those martial sires and thrifty dames honor me with their attention on this occasion. Richard Leak of Savannah probably first attempted cotton culture as a planter. In 1788, writing to Col. Thomas Proctor, of Philadelphia, he says, "I have been this year an adventurer, and the first that has attempted it on a large scale, in introducing * * * the article of cotton, sam ples of which I beg leave now to send you. I shall raise about five thousand pounds in the seed, from eight acres of land. . The principal difficulty * * * is cleansing it from the seed, which I am told they GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1635 do with great dexterity and ease in Philadelphia with gins or machines made for the purpose. I am told that they make those that will clean thirty or forty pounds of clean cotton in a day." . The gin "to which this adventurous Georgian referred with such admiration, according to Doctor Dabney of the University of Tennessee, was very much the same . in form as that found on the shores of the Tigris by the soldiers of Alexander the Great. In the year 1790 the entire cotton crop of the United States amounted to 5,000 bales, of 400 pounds net. In 1900 the neighboring county of Jackson alone produced 12,000 bales. The cotton crop for the year 1900, as furnished by the World Almanac, was 9,439,559 bales, of 487 pounds net. This was 2,000,000 of bales less than the cotton crop of 1898-99, which was the largest ever made, but the excess of value of the crop of 1900 over that of 1899 was $29,000,000. Nor do these figures showing the development of our royal southern staple include the cotton seed, which in 1899 amounted to 4,450,000 tons. The evolution of the cotton seed industry is a marvel of the century. In the early days of cotton ginning the seed was indeed regarded as a nuisance. It was carelessly thrown out on the ground, and the hogs ate it and died. The seed was then enclosed in rail pens, but the little pigs made their way in between the rails and fed on the seed, and the pigs died. As a' last resort, it was dumped into a salt water creek, and when the tide was low it gen erated a disagreeable odor so offensive to the olfactories of our ancestors as to create a strong and general prejudice against the culture of cotton. Now, the production of oil from the olive and similar fruits, from the earliest times, has been prized and promoted by man, and its abundance was regarded as a synonym of plenty. Often does this appear in the exquisite metaphors of the sacred scriptures. Little did we dream that our modest cotton seed was pregnant with an oil unsurpassed by the product of that sacred olive which, at the bidding of the goddess Athene, sprouted from the rock of the Acropolis and became the parent of the classic grove in the gardens of the Academy where Plato dreamed, and where "The Attic bird Trills her thick-warbled notes the Summer long.'' This valuable by-product of our great southern staple, while used for illumination, for the manufacture of various medicinal compounds, for tempering steel, for the manufacture of lard, candles, butterine, oleomargarine and soap, also furnished 90 per cent of the olive oil sold in the United States; and so excellent is our olive oil for the preparation of salads, and in the culinary art generally, that the Italian government, to protect the product of the renowned olive groves of Italy, has enacted prohibitory laws against its importation. In a valuable report issued by the National Department of Agriculture it is conceded that cotton seed oil has to contend with gastronomic prejudices, but it is pointed out that closer acquaintance will dispel these, and in proof it is recounted that the laborers employed in the mills no longer bring meat for their dinners, but put their bread under the presses where the sweet, warm, fresh oil is trickling out, and eat it with relish, finding it healthful and nutritious. Nor is this all. The cotton seed meal is one o the cheapest 1636 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS sources of nitrogen, the most costly and valuable ingredient of fertilizers. It is even more nutritious to animal life than to plant life. Experi ments made by Connecticut, New York.and Indiana find that the value of cotton seed meal exceeds that of corn meal by 62 per cent, and that of wheat by 67 per cent. The fattening of beef cattle on cotton seed meal and cotton seed hulls is now a business of great importance. As early as the season of 1893-94, in the same valuable report to which I refer, it is said that 13,000 carloads of beeves fattened exclusively on this food passed through Texarkaiia alone on the way to market. Of this new and surprising industry, the South has the monopoly, and it is stated in a recent supplement to the Manufacturer's Record that it now employs over $40,000,000 of capital, and yields an annual product of upwards of $50,000,000. But the great National Department of Agriculture declares that the potential value of 4,000,000 tons of seed (an amount exceeded by the last two crops), in oil, in the inferior lint saved in handling the seed, in the hulls, in the meal, in the production of flesh and fat of cattle, will actually amount to $113,000,000 per annum, or nearly one-half of the value of lint cotton itself. Nor in other great industries are the positive achievements of the Southern States less stupendous or their promise for an incomparable future less resplendent. In 1880 the Southern States produced 397,000 tons of pig iron. In 1899 the product was 2,500,000 tons. In 1880 we mined 6,000,000 tons of coal. In 1899, from vast and practically undis turbed mines, the energy of our miners brought forth 40,000,000 tons of that marvelous fuel stored by the hand of Omnipotence eons ago for the uses of those sentient beings with which he was to people the globe on which we live. I may not enlarge upon the vast increase in the mining and shipment of bone phosphate, so essential to the manufacture of fertilizers. It will suffice to say that while in 1894-95 little more than 400,000 tons were shipped from South Carolina and little more than 500,000 tons from Florida, in 1900 there were shipped from the former state 2,201,197 tons, and from the latter 3,118,664 tons.. And what shall we say of the recent phenomenal discoveries of petro leum oil in the State of Texas? Five months ago the telegraph flashed to the world that the first "gusher" from the exhaustless supplies of nature was projecting 150 feet towards the heavens a geyser of coal oil estimated at 25,000 barrels a day. Not the gold discoveries of '49 in California, nor the fabled deposits amid the ice and snow of the Klon dike, nor the startling possibilities when oil was struck in Pennsylvania, so excited the imagination or inflamed the acquisitive passion in man. While Pliny tells us that this mineral oil lighted the lamps of the ancients, and while we may believe that it supplied the mysterious fires at pagan altars, when oil was first discovered in Pennsylvania its value was unknown. It was bottled under the name of Seneca Oil, and sold at 25 cents a gill as a panacea for rheumatism or other "misery" which seemed to demand a counter-irritant or soothing oleaginous application. But now the value of this mysterious product is known throughout the world. Unlike the gold of California or of the Klondike, the utilization of this last great boon to man does not necessitate a tedious and hazard ous voyage half way around the world, or exposure to incredible hard- GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1637 ships amid the ice and snow of a hyperborean climate. It is on the open prairies, on a great railway line near the principal cities of the Lone Star State. So far, nine "gushers" have been struck. The flow of the smallest is estimated at 25,000 and the largest 50,000 barrels a day, and if only the minimum estimate is correct the product is 225,000 barrels a day, or more than the total output of the 70,000 or 80,000 wells already in daily operation iii the United States an industry which has filled tremendous areas in many states with the thunder of machinery, with capacious oil tanks, vast refineries, subterranean pipe lines traversing great distances, and has covered the ocean with fleets of tank steamers, distributing the now indispensable product throughout the world. Nothing in the incalculable increment of wealth accumulated by the Standard Oil Company, nothing in the vast Russian reservoirs on the distant shores of the Caspian, may equal the value or importance of this new bounty from the hand of the Divine. It may afford the fuel for the future. Already it has been substituted for coal in 200 locomotives on the Texas Pacific, and in many steamers. Lands in the neighborhood which were worth $5 to $10 an acre are now eagerly purchased at $75,000 an acre, and plain farmers can count their millions when a month ago there were none so poor to do them reverence. Thus we may see that the supremacy of our country's native resources is established, but of late the world has been awakened to the conscious ness that in manufactures, as in agriculture and mineral resources, we are also supreme. "Europeans," writes Dr. Josiah Strong "have been accustomed to think of the United States as the world's great farm. They have been suddenly aroused to the fact that it has become also the. world's great workshop.'' It was for the first time discovered in 1898 that in manufactures our exports exceeded our imports. In that year a German trade paper says: "One of the most characteristic and at the same time most alarming features of the past year has been the invasion by American competition not only- of Canada, Mexico, South and Central America, India, Australia and Japan, but also all of the countries of Europe, invading even our oldest manufacturing centers." The apprehensions of this lugubrious German are, happily for us, well founded. Of American locomotives more than 100 are daily at work in Japan, the land of the rising sun. Nearly 1,000 of these power ful creations of the genius and skill of our artificers fly daily across the steppes of Russia, following paths marked deep in the past by the hoof-prints of the horsemen of Attila, of Tamerlane and Genghis Khan. American locomotives, on American steel rails, climb the moun tains of Mexico and Columbia. They thread the defiles of the Andes in Peru, Chile and Ecuador. They penetrate the mighty forests of the Amazon, traverse the vast expanses of Brazil and the pampas of the Argentine Republic. They glide over sands once disturbed by the tramp of the Macedonian phalanx, the marching step of Caesar's legions, and the Arab steeds of Mahomet. The sound of their whistles reverberates from the Pyramids which have re-echoed the battle cry of the Crusaders and the thunder of Napoleon's artillery, is borne across the waters of the sea which, engulfed the horsemen and chariots of Pharaoh, and pene trates the solitude of those desert shores which once resounded with the songs of Miriam and the daughters of Israel. Vol. Ill--24 1638 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS What is true of our locomotives is also true of all structures which come from the skillful hand of the American artisan. Australia, with all of its devotion to the mother country, against English bidding gives Pittsburgh orders for 35,000 tons of steel rail. The government of the czar has contracted with the Carnegies to deliver in two years and two months 180,000 tons of the same product. Of the great Atbara bridge across the Nile on the Cape to Cairo railroad, General Lord Kitchener reports: "It should fairly claim a record. Every effort was made to place the order for it in England, but it was found impossible to have it completed in the necessary time. But where the- English failed, I am delighted to find that our cousins across the Atlantic stepped in. The opening of this bridge today is due to their energy, ability and the power they possess in so marked a degree for turning out work of this magni tude in less time than can be done anywhere else." And while we pay $500,000 daily for the carriage of our products in foreign vessels, who shall say that the hand of the American ship wright has lost its cunning! Contemplate the long succession of our victories in contests for the America cup, a contest which our British cousins regard so important that his majesty King Edward but a few days ago endangered his royal person that he might observe the per formance of Shamrock II. And what American is there whose heart does not leap with pride when he recalls the achievements of the Oregon? The great battleship is lying far to the northward in a harbor on our Pacific Coast. A telegram from the secretary of the navy flashes to her commander the story of the destruction of the Maine, and the duty of the Oregon. In an instant her gigantic propellers begin to' revolve. Her guide the Southern Cross, her engines are driving the ship on her pathway to glory. Spurning alike the tornadoes that hurl across tropic seas, the blistering heat that stifles along the line, the gales that howl around Cape Horn, and the tides that rage with pent-up fury in Magel lan Straits, the glorious ship storms on her way ' Past lands of quiet splendor where pleasant waters lave, Past lands whose mountain ramparts fling back the crashing wave,'' and turning her dauntless prow to the northward, she scarcely checks her arrowy way until with not a broken bolt and not a rivet started she sweeps grandly into line, ready, aye, ready, with the thunder of her guns, to smite the Spaniard to his doom in Santiago Bay. Well might that gallant English admiral, Lord Charles Beresford, exclaim, "No navy on earth has a better ship, and no ship in existence has such a record." And let it not be forgotten that the officers and men of our navy are worthy of the ships they man. Says an English writer on the naval history of the Spanish-American war: '' The Amer ican naval officer has a world-wide reputation for professional knowledge and capacity. The American seaman is intelligent, brave and resource ful. The engineering staff on board the warships is of remarkable effi ciency." I may add that the ages do not afford anything comparable to the spectacle of two American fleets within little more than a month fighting two great battles on opposite sides of the earth, in each destroy ing every ship of the enemy, changing the map of the world with but the loss of one American sailor. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1639 The vast consequences of our mechanical supremacy were brought out most clearly by the recent official utterance of another noble Eng lishman. Sir Alfred Hickman, a prominent iron manufacturer and a member of Parliament, made a motion in that body to investigate the action of British East India officials in giving contracts to Americans rather than to British manufacturers. This evoked a reply from Lord George Hamilton, secretary of state for India. Referring to the great viaduct in the Shan Hills, the highest railway bridge in the world, the secretary of state for India declared that the Burmah Railway Company had no option but to place the order for its construction with the Penn sylvania Steel Company. The tender of the American company was for a much less price, and it guaranteed the completion of the work in much quicker time than any British company could tender. "The Americans," he said, "yearly improve their products in quality and price. Chemical research, concentration of capital, thorough technical education and improved industrial organization," explains the success of the American manufacturer in dominating the markets of the world. Similar admissions might be quoted from aiTthoritative official sources from every capital in Europe. In view of the conclusive demonstration of American industrial supremacy, in view of the enormous balance of trade in our favor with foreign lands, is it not wise for the American people, after all that has been said in the platforms of political parties, to consider calmly and well weigh whether the general welfare is the more retarded or pro moted by the concentration of capital and the consolidated organization of great industries which are coincident with these enormous national accomplishments? The comprehensive perspicacious minds which have planned multitudes of industrial combinations of the greatest magni tude have apparently little leisure to speak or write on these topics, but some of them undoubtedly possess astonishing capacity for clear and convincing statement. One of these is James J. Hill, who began life as a poor Canadian lad, is now president of the Northern Pacific, and in railway and steamship transportation one of the most influential and controlling minds on earth. In an article in the May number of the North American Review he has made a brief and apparently fair resume, which will doubtless have profound effect on the impartial thought of the country. He points out the distinction between a trust, where the stocks of various competing organizations were trasteed in a few men merely to control the property as they saw fit, and a consolidation, which is a genuine investment of all like ventures in one concern. The trust he pronounces cumbersome and illegal. Under the consolidation, to quote his language, "a different usage prevails, operating expenses are reduced by combining a number of institutions under one management. The systems of purchasing and distributing are simplified. Economies are effected by the direct purchase of material in large quantities, or, better still, by adding to the combination a department for the acquisi tion and control of the source from which raw material is drawn.'' This, he points out, was the method of the Carnegies, who furnished the highest type of this system. They took iron from their own mines, made their coke in their own ovens, worked up the material in their own furnaces, and shipped the finished product over their own railroad or in their 1640 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS own vessels. It is conceded that there are those who are injured by these consolidations, but the aim in business, as in politics, is to do the greatest good to the greatest number. The building of a railroad will put the owner of a stage coach out of business. The trolley lines have done great injury to the livery stable keeper, and have reduced local hackmen to despair; but the community which is brought close to the great markets by the new railroad, and the public who gain the advan tage of cheap and quick transportation by means of the trolley car are benefited much more than the livery men and the hackmen are injured, and so the balance is in favor of the general welfare. '' We are as yet,'' Mr. Hill concludes, '' only on the threshold of the new era in the business world, and no one can say positively that the present order of things is and will be for the best. That is still to be proven, and it can be proven only by time. All we can say is that so far as we have gone the results are certainly favorable. Against the alleged injury that is intangible can easily be put the benefit than can be shown by figures. * * * ^Yages are higher, prices are lower, investments are safer, more productive, and more certain of return." Perhaps the Standard Oil Company is the most successful of all the great consolidations and that which has received the most general pop ular denunciation. In the same number of the North American a severe assault is made upon its methods by that successful capitalist and specu lator, Mr. Russell Sage. He concedes, however, that it has had enor mous success, and that it has benefited the community. He concedes that it has lowered the price of oil, bringing it down gradually from 45 cents to 7 or 8 cents a gallon. He concedes that through its excellent management it has evolved methods for the use of the by products of crude oil, and, first and last, has added many hundred millions to the wealth of the country. It has made its owners very rich, it is true, but it has acted well by its employes and consumers. In view of such concessions of public benefit and I cite this company merely as a type is it not well, I repeat, for the American people to inquire more carefully and reflect more profoundly with regard to the effect of these mighty consolidations? Are we not too easily driven .to conclu sions by partisan articles at times hastily written, or by the speeches of politicians made for a purpose? Indeed, are we not prejudiced, often irrevocably, by a humorous squib which a bright paragraphist has placed before a million minds at the same moment of ime. Even now how merciless is the war of squib paragraph and cartoon directed against that financier of world reputation, Mr. Pierpont Morgan. We, at least, should not forget the incalculable benefits accomplished for the South by the far-sighted, just, yet daring, conceptions of that remarkable man. The prosperity of an agricultural community may be generally deter mined by the excellence of its roads, and the prosperity of a modern state by the excellence of its railroads. Who that recalls the chaos and ruin brought to thousands by the voting trust of the Richmond Terminal, who that will now contemplate the marvelous advance of every southern state to the eastward of the Mississippi, impossible but for the magnifi cent rehabilitation of thp Southern Railway and the Central of Georgia, will fail to accord the meed of public benefactor to this great American financier, and to those sagacious men who have acted with him? In GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1641 economies of operation, in constant if gradual reduction of rates, in increased facilities and more expensive accommodations, in firm but respectful defensive measures against harmful legislation, in obedience to state law, in more uniform serviee for longer distances ..without change of cars, in abolition of short, disjointed lines under different manage ments, in augmented shipping facilities, in physical perfection of the properties and consequent safety to the public and in the steady increase in vaiue of all the securities of these great highways of southern com merce, the wisdom and prescience of such men have been indisputably shown. And with what result? AVhere formerly asthmatic engines attached to unsafe and noisome trains through the solitudes of an impov erished country, like a wounded snake dragged their slow length along, now we behold oil massive rails of gleaming steel on roadbeds of granitic ballast, successive sections of long freight trains sturdily steaming through a prosperous land smiling with luxuriant crops, beautiful with neat and happy homes, the chimneys of great factories, giving employ ments to thousands, almost marking the miles; or the admiration kindles and the pulse leaps as the limited express, laden with its human freight, glances by on its missions of progress and civilization. May I be par doned for adding that in,the determination to resuscitate the railway interests of the South, in nothing did the men behind the movement exhibit sounder judgment than in the selection of the man to consum mate their purpose and to make rich its fruition to the people of the whole country, a southerner "native and to the manner born," a Geor gian true and tried, whom today alma mater bids welcome and God speed in his great mission for the sunny land he loves.* From this limited survey of our native resources and industrial devel opment, it follows, to use the terse language of a strong thinker of our state,t "the question of production is settled and the next question is one of markets." It is not only the next question with us, but it is the next question with all the great powers. It cannot be postponed. It is a question exceedingly grave. Contests for markets have precipitated nearly all of the great wars which for the last century and a half have seared the face of the globe. The navigation laws of Great Britain by which she sought to exclude the American colonies from the West India trade provoked that spirit of resistance which, seizing upon matters more trivial, brought on the revolution and the loss of a continent. The Milan and Berlin decrees of Napoleon, by which he sought to exclude British trade from the continent, resulted in the horrors of the Russian campaign, the carnage of Waterloo and the lonely grave under the willows at St. Helena. A contest for the commerce of the people of Asia is now absorbing the best statesmanship, the most anxious thought, the most unremitting energy of all the great nations. It was declared by General Grant, when he made his journey round the world, that in less than half a century Europe would be complaining of the too rapid advance of China. The prediction would doubtless have startled the multitudinous disciples of Confucius. That renowned philosopher, some 700 years before the birth of our Savior, took * Mr. Samuel Spencer, t Mr. J. F. Hanson. 1642 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS pride in the fact that nothing had been invented by him, complained that the times were decadent, and advocated reform by returning to the customs of the ancients. His disciples are not exclusively Chinamen. The remarkable people of China constitute fully one-fourth of the human race. Whatever may be said of the Chinese government, the Chinese people are immensely vital. They flourish amid conditions the most unsanitary, in a temperature below zero or in more than 100 in the shade. The teachings of Malthus are as unpopular with the Chinese as they are with our vice president. In his delightful essay upon Civ ilization and Decay,* Mr. Roosevelt declares, "No quality in a race atones for the failure to produce-an abundance of healthy children." In this respect the Chinese contribute to national greatness with a prodi gality which should fire the enthusiasm of that renowned American. Who can calculate the effect upon the human family of the awakening of this giant nation? What tremendous impetus must it give to the commerce of mankind, and particularly of our country! At the annual dinner of the American Asiatic Association the Chinese ambassador, His Excellency Wu Ting-fang, said: "We all know that China is one of the greatest markets of the world, with a population of four hundred mil lion that must be fed and clothed and must receive the necessaries of life. She wants your wheat, your cotton, your iron and steel and your manu factured articles of the New England States. She wants steel rails, elec trical machines, and one hundred other things that she cannot get at home and must get abroad. It is a fine field for American industry to fill these wants. It is particularly easy for you to reach China on account of the fine highway you have on the Pacific, and especially desirable that you do so since you have become our next door neighbor in the Philip pines. If you do not come up to your own expectations and meet this opportunity it is your own fault." The same accomplished diplomat, in a recent speech at Charlotte, pointed out that the importation of: cotton goods from the United States into China had increased from a little more than a million in 1890 to nearly ten million in 1899. This trade, however, had only penetrated Manchuria and Chill, which are the most northern and by 110 means the most thickly populated parts of the empire. It is as if a nation had traded with Maine, New Hamp shire and Vermont and ignored the rest of the United States. From recent consular reports, obligingly furnished me by the state depart ment, it appears that our cotton goods constitute not only more than one-half of the entire exports of the United States to China, but that China bought more than half of our entire export sales of cotton cloths. The magnitude of this interest to the South may be gathered from the phenomenal growth of our cotton manufacturing industry. From the same report it is demonstrated that Jietween 1889 and 1899, inclusive, while cotton spindles increased 4% per cent in Great Britain, 11.4 in the northern states, in the South they increased 190% P er cent. In an article in the Textile Manufacturers Journal of December 20, 1900, Prof. Henry M. Wilson declares: '' Nowhere in the world is the interest being taken in cotton manufacturing as here in the South, where most of the staple is produced. From the returns made to the New Orleans -"American Ideals and Other Essays." GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1643 Cotton Exchange the number of spindles added this year in old mills, new mills and mills under construction is 1,456,897, and new looms added 27,613. Bright as are the hopes of our people in that enormous industry, with what dismay and apprehension were they affected when the disturbances in the northern provinces and the manifest greed of certain European powers threatened ruin to hundreds of southern mills! Many of these were at once shut down, their operatives were thrown out of employment, the price of cotton, at first buoyant as the hopes of our farmers, rapidly fell. A powerful body of southern manufacturers memorialized the secretary of state, calling attention to the fact that a large part of the production of cotton drills and sheetings manufactured in southern mills is exported to North China, and declaring that a pro hibition or interference there by any European government would tend to seriously injure not only the cotton manufacturing industry, but other important products of the United States which are being shipped , to China. Nor was our Government indifferent to the appeal. The administration did all that firmness, statesmanship, diplomacy, benignity and humanity could accomplish to relieve the distresses of China. Every movement of those responsible to the people has been dictated by the most courageous and independent sense of justice. Humanity and public interest are indeed generally coincident. Of Edmund Burke, Lord Macaulay declared that, "oppression in Bengal was to him the same thing as oppression in the streets of London,'' and of William McKinley we may say that cruelty on the banks of the Peiho is to him the same thing as cruelty on the banks of the Potomac. Though shocked with the atrocities of the Boxers, no spirit of vengeance has animated our Execu tive, our Government, <3r our people. No punitive expeditions, carrying ,fire and sword to ignorant villagers, have borne the Stars and Stripes, and in their bearing to the helpless Chinese our gallant regulars have proven anew that the bravest are the tenderest, the loving are the daring. Nor are the Chinese an ungrateful people. This attribute cannot exist in a nation whose religion is the worship of their ancestors, whose morality is largely exhibited in tender devotion to their aged parents. Our Gov ernment, indeed, has been as resolute in its resistance to those powers that would partition the Chinese Empire and exclude our commerce therefrom as it has been moderate and kind to that distracted people. For this it should have our unstinted appreciation. Moreover, I do not hesitate to declare that unless we mean to jeopardize every dollar invested in cotton mills in the South, unless we mean to have cotton again a drug on the market at from 3 to 5 cents a pound, we should see to it that our representatives shall support to the uttermost the efforts of our Government to keep open the door of China for American commerce. Events have not altogether verified the famous remark of Napoleon, that in fifty years Europe would be republican or Cossack, but repub lican and Cossack have at length met for a trial of strength. The guerdon of the struggle is twofold: Shall the commerce of Asia be open to the world, or shall it be dominated by the Slav 1 Shall the Pacific Ocean be a Russian or an Anglo-Saxon sea ? As the control of this great ocean, which has been justly termed the theater of events in the world's great hereafter, shall be settled, so likewise will be the power and prestige of our country. We have seen that the trade of the Orient is essential 1644 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS to the distribution of our surplus products. This distribution failing, reactionary movements on all lines and national decadence will inev itably result. Profound was the observation of Sir Walter Raleigh: "Whosoever commands the sea commands trade, and whosoever com mands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself." There has been a remarkable parallel in the development of power between the English speaking and thq, Slavonic races. In Russia eastward, and in America and the British possessions westward, the Star of Empire takes its way. Utterly con flicting in theories of government, the Anglo-Saxon is the chief bulwark of civil and religious liberty on earth, the Slav the representative of despotism in state and church. The Anglo-Saxon bases his civilization on the development of the individual, and Russia in all of its history has relied upon his suppression. A French writer has predicted that a hundred years hence, leaving China out of the question, there will be two colossal powers in the world, beside which Germany, England, France and Italy will be as pigmies, the United States and Russia. " If this pre diction be true, and China cannot be left out of the question; if Great Britain, in her isolation, is to meet her downfall; if our republic, great as it is, is to remain the sole obstacle to the ever-progressing, steadygrinding, glacier-like movement of Slavonic power, it will result from trivial jealousies, from baseless prejudices, and an ignoble rancor for past differences between the two great members of the Anglo-Saxon race, with a common blood, a common history, a common freedom of religion, a common liberty of conscience, a common literature, a common, lan guage; and the spectacle will present the inexpiable crime of the ages. Nor are these contingencies of the future merely conjectural. The empire of the Great AVhite Czar now includes all that territory of the world's surface where were hatched those devouring Swarms from the Northern Hive which in ages past have often -changed the fate of nations and the maps of Asia and of Europe. The cabinet of Russia, from the time when that gigantic power stood forth as a portent to the surround ing nations, has been governed by a consistent, unvarying principle. "It rests," said the historian Allison, "on a combination of physical strength with diplomatic address, of perseverance in object with versa tility of means, which was never, before exhibited on the theater of the world.'' Said the Russian historian, Karamsin, with a frankness almost brutal: "The object and the character of our military policy has inva riably been to seek to be at peace with everybody and to make conquests without war; always keeping on the defensive, placing no faith in the friendship of those whose interests do not accord with our own, and losing no opportunity of injuring them without ostensibly breaking our treaties with them." While the cool, imperturbable policy of the Gov ernment never makes it anticipate the period of action, and never relaxes the sinews of preparation, the inextinguishable passion for conquest among the masses of the Russian people respond with enthusiasm to every aggressive disposition of the' Czar. '' The meanest peasant in Rus sia," says Allison, "is impressed with the belief that his country is destined to subdue the world. The rudest nomad of steppes pants for the period when a. second Timur is to open the gates of Derbend and let loose upon Southern Asia the long pent up forces of the northern wilds.'' GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1645 The physical power of Russia is commensurate with the vast schemes of aggrandizement of its government, and if equaled at all is equaled alone by the combined development of all the English speaking peoples. Writing in 1842, Allison predicted that in 1900 Russia would have a population of 120,000,000. In 1900 its population was 136,000,000. It has been little more than two hundred years since Peter the Great mounted the throne of Russia. This is but a brief span in history. There are many present whose grandfathers and some whose fathers might have talked with General Oglethorpe, the noble founder of Georgia, and General Oglethorpe might have talked with Peter the Great. When that ferocious Muscovite. resolved to arouse the latent forces of his empire, Russia had 110 seaport save the frozen Archangel on the Arctic Sea, and the Russian power was given as little consideration by the cabinets of Europe as we now give to the Imaun of Muscat or the Ahkound of Swat. With his own hands Peter aided in the construction of the small and rude vessel, yet religiously preserved by the Russians, which was the foundation of their magnificent navy, now on all the oceans the third in power. Now, three mighty seas, the Caspian, the Euxine and the Baltic, are practically Russian lakes. Rapidly is she extending her influence over Persia and forging her way to harbors on the flank of England's communications with her Indian possessions. When she is ready Turkey and all the powers of Europe combined cannot prevent her from seizing Constantinople/ and the Dardanelles. Her trans-Siberian railway, the longest in the world, is practically com pleted to that impregnable fortress on the Pacific, Vladivostok, whose very name imports "the dominator of the East," and its Manchurian branch is rapidly approaching unsurpassed Port Arthur, which bears a relation to North China scarcely less important than that of New York to the Middle and Eastern States of our Union. "Russia," said a modern writer who lived much among its people, '' does not covet India, but she does intend to appropriate, and imagines that Providence has appointed her to possess, Persia, Turkey, Afghanistan, Thibet and China." In the light of recent events who can gainsay the truth of this observation ? Well may we accept the eloquent statement of Allison: "Never since the god Terminus first receded Math the Roman eagles in the provinces beyond the Euphrates, has so steady and uninterrupted advance been made by any empire towards universal dominion; and it is hard to say whether it has prevailed most by the ability of diplomatic address or the vigor of warlike achievement." Than Napoleon Bona parte no member of the human race has ever been better fitted both by genius and experience to estimate the power of Russia. In the seclu sion of his imprisonment at St. Helena, with all the experience of his marvelous history, his profound genius no longer disturbed by the phantoms of ambition, he exclaimed to his devoted Las Casas, "Russia is like the Antseus of the fable which cannot be overcome but by seizing it by the middle and stifling it in the arms." "But where," said he, "is the Hercules to be found who will attempt such an enterprise?" But the imagination even of Napoleon could not conceive the evolution of national power in Russia since these words were uttered, and yet he did not overestimate the heroic, imperturbable courage of, the Russian character. He recalled the blood and carnage of Eylau, the incarnadined 1646 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS redoubts of Smolensko and Borodino, the flames of Moscow, the piteous destruction of his grand army, and the terrible passage of the bridge of the Beresina, In spite of his military genius, in spite of the heroism of his grenadiers who had borne the French eagles from the steeples of Notre l)ame to the towers of every capital in Europe, he knew that the Cossacks of the Don had lighted their bivouac fires on the Champs Eiysees and tethered their ponies amid the palms and roses in the gardens of the Tuileries. Nor are their soldiers more heroic than their sailors. Said Lord Nelson, the greatest sea captain of the English race . '' Lay yourselves alongside a Frenchman, but. outmaneuver a Russian.'' With all the wealth and might of the great American republic, our statesmen cannot afford indifference to the determined aggressions of this gigantic Asiatic power. Yes, Asiatic! '' Africa, "said Victor Hugo, "begins at the Pyrenees," and we may add that Asia extends to the banks of the Niemen and to the mouths of the Danube. Said Napoleon, Grattez le Russe, et trouverez le Tartare, "Scratch a Russian and you find a Tartar." Men speak of the traditional friendship of Russia with the United States. It is, and has ever been, meretricious. The cords that bind us have been ropes of sand. Friendship is impossible between individual liberty and absolutism, between autocracy and representative government. Even now the most serious blows to our commerce have of late been aimed by the Russian ministry,* and had the territories of the United States been accessible to them, our fair land of freedom would have been harried and ravaged by the soldiers of the czar, in whose hands the machine gun and the breechloader have been but sub stituted for the lance of the Cossack and the sword and bow of the Scythian, unless, izideed, the dauntless soul and strong arm of the sons of America had hurled them back, shattered and bleeding, to their regions of ices and of snows. Nor should the statesmen of America fail to perceive that if Russia shall succeed in the domination of China, and in the organization and control of its four hundred millions of people, not only must American commerce decay, but American liberty may be 210 longer secure. With the great steam troopships and gigantic transports of modern marine architecture, and transferring thousands of troops in each vessel, crossing the ocean with the incredible speed of steam and electricity, the Pacific can be as readily crossed by Chinese and Russian armadas as were the waters of the North Sea by the war ships of the Vikings or the rude vessels bearing the white horse standards of Henghist and liorsa. If these be the possibilities of a remote future, the danger to our commerce is here. Who can doubt that in the interest of her own manu facturers and merchants that Russia will exclude from the seventeen millions of Manchuria the manufactured products of America, especially those products of southern cotton mills which, from that territory alone in 1899, brought $10,000,000 for distribution among the southern people. The danger to our liberty will not come in our own times, it may not come for generations, but that patriotism is short-sighted which does not outlive the brief limits of our own lives, and which does not repose * The day these words "were spolien Russia imposed new and prohibitive duties on American naval stores and bicycles. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1647 with deep sensibility upon the future of our descendants. Such was not the patriotism of the framers of our immortal constitution. Theirs was the purpose "to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity.'' But may we not devoutly believe that there is a divine intelligence loftier than all human conceptions which, despite the wran glings and j anglings of parties, is guiding in higher and safer altitudes the destinies of our beloved land. May we not believe that it was the interposition of this Almighty power which directed the councils of our Government in its humane and victorious effort to set free the prostrate Cubans, and which all unconsciously delivered into our hands those islands of the Pacific which, with the Australasian possessions of our English brethren, will enable our combined navies to dominate the Pacific as the silver streak of the channel is swept by the steel-clad squadrons of the British fleet. In the inevitable conflicts of the future the importance of these insular possessions in the Pacific cannot be overstated. Said Captain Mahan, perhaps the highest authority in the world on naval warfare and strategy: '' Shut out from the Sandwich Islands as a coaling base, an enemy is thrown back for supplies and fuel a distance of thirty-five hun dred or four thousand miles, or between seven thousand and eight thousand going and coming, an impediment to sustained maritime opera tions well nigh prohibitive. It is rarely that so important a factor in the attack or defense of a coast line of a sea frontier is concentrated in a, single, position." Said Senator Thurston: "In the whole Pacific ocean, from the equator on the south to Alaska on the north, from the coast of China and Japan on the west to the American continent on the east, there is but one spot where a ton of coal, a pound of bread or a gallon of water can be obtained by a passing vessel, and that spot is Hawaii." And what of the Philippines? I remember reading when a boy, in the Voyages of Captain Cook, where he declared, in substance, that the power which controlled Manila, Guam, the Sandwich Islands and San Francisco would dominate the Pacific. Over all of these now float the Stars and Stripes. The marvelous Philippiiie archipelago, extending as far as from the north of Scotland to the south of Italy, is the property of the United States of America by a title as clear as that which we have to Florida, to New Orleans, and to every foot of land to the westward of the Mississippi. Its principal city, Manila, is only 628 miles from Hongkong, about the distance from Savannah to New York. It is 812 miles nearer China than Singapore, the nearest British port. It is 400 miles nearer to China than Yokohama. It is directly on the ocean pathway between Hongkong and Australasia. "The chief distributing centers of China, Japan, Corea, Siam, Annam and the East Indies are as near to Manila as Havana is to New York, and the dis tributing centers of Persia, India and Australasia are nearer to Manila than to any other great emporium." It is said that Manila lies in the center of a crescent peopled by 700,000,000 of human souls. Thus it is plain that American statesmen and American arms in the past three years have gained for the United States of America opportunities for the development of world power and commercial prestige without .precedent in the annals of time. '' How happens it,'' exclaims Doctor Strong, '' that all these lands are 1648 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS found under Anglo-Saxon flags in the very generation when the Pacific becomes decisive of the world's destinies? Such facts are God's great alphabet with which he spells for man his providential purposes. For a hundred years now, blind men have been quarreling with our national destiny or with Divine Providence. They declared that Jefferson vio lated the Constitution in the purchase of Louisiana. They opposed the purchase of Florida. They were vehement in their opposition to the. acquisition of Texas and California. They called Alaska 'Seward's folly.' They rejected Hawaii when offered as a gift, and would have had Dewey sail away from the Philippines and leave them an apple of discord to the European powers or doom them to anarchy." And more, even now belated Americans are bawling anathemas at the Supreme Court of the United States, some of them denouncing it as the plague spot in our system, because that august tribunal, without incorporating into our body politic millions of savages to whom our institutions are incomprehensible, have seen in the Constitution the power to govern by Congress these enormous and most valuable acquisitions of territory achieved by the wisdom of our statesmanship and the valor of our arms. And this is true notwithstanding the fact that the Continental Congress with its last waning breath framed an ordinance for the government of the Northwest Territory, and since that time, under the Constitution, Congress has always governed the territory and provided for the gov ernment of the territories of the United States, and has never accorded all the rights of citizens of the United States to the citizens of the terri tories. Even now citizens of the organized territories, unlike the citizens of the states, may not sue in the courts of the United States, nor may citizens of the District of Columbia. And the people at the seat of government by Act of Congress are denied the right to vote and are themselves governed by a commission appointed by the President. It would seem that if Congress is good enough to make laws for the people of the United States and for our territories not yet organized, it is good enough to make laws for the savage Igorotes, Mores and Sulus, or even for those leisurely lovers of the dolce far niente who dream away their easy lives amid the soft breezes and sensuous shades of Porto Rico. Truly some of these gentlemen have discovered a solicitude, what Dickens terms a "telescopic philanthropy," for the savage Tag-als and head hunters of the Philippine Islands, which is equaled only by the Brick Lane Branch of the Ebenezer Association, who, according to the elder Weller, were engaged in making '' flannel weskits for the infant niggers,'' or which prompted Mrs. Jellyby to neglect her own family in ord.er to 'consecrate all of her energies to establish a factory for turning piano legs at Borricoboola-Gha on the left bank of the Niger. And, wonderful to relate, some of these telescopic statesmen are from practical, hardheaded Georgia, a state which, in spite of all the treaties made with the Indians, and all the efforts of the Supreme Court and the President of the United States, within the memory of very old men now living, drove out the Creek Indians, expelled the Cherokees and took over their possessions. So recent was this remarkable "expansion" in the boun daries of our own state that today a large portion of its territory, a land like ancient Canaan, "flowing with milk and honey," is commonly known as '' Cherokee Georgia,'' in memory of those American Filipinos, whom, GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 1649 denuded of their assets, the fathers of our telescopic friends sent whirl ing toward the setting sun. These gentlemen should commend to their souls the doctrine of Daniel Webster, who declared that our politics should stop ati low water-mark. It is idle for them to protest against expansion. It is an accomplished fact. From the purest motives of mercy and humanitarianism, all unconscious of its consequences, the United States took part in a great movement which within a few years past has swept over the world. I mean the advance of Russia in Asia, the division of Africa into spheres of influence, the acquisitions of France in Madagascar and Tonquin, of Germany in Africa, Samoa, and elsewhere, and of Great Britain in Burmah. "We meant to take no part in it, but "there is a destiny which shapes our ends, rough hew them as we may." The first gun from the Olympia that belched its thunders across Manila Bay proclaimed to the ages that the great republic, panoplied in the armor of liberty and law, had stepped forward into the arena to take her full part in the conflict of world policies which will inexorably determine the destinies of generations yet unborn, and which will even now determine by high arbitrament, if need be by the sword, whether our country will hold its commanding position in the commerce of the world, or whether, excluded from world markets, her forges shall be extinguished, the whir of machinery shall be hushed, great lines of rail way shall be worthless, and hundreds of millions of acres of land, whose products now feed the world, shall know no more the hand of the plow man or the blade of the reaper, and whether there shall lapse into barren and profitless disuse the broad and fertile expanses of our own South land, which each recurring autumn whiten with the snowy luxuriance of our royal staple, giving promise of clothing for three-quarters of the human race. Nor was this movement too soon. Jealousy and fear of American greatness and prosperity prevail^ throughout the continent. Alarmed at our achievements they seek to erect a continental system- like that applied by the remorseless energy of Napoleon to crush the trade of Great Britain. "But," says the London Times on May 30th, "if by any conceivable infatuation any or all of the continental powers were to combine for such an end, the British Empire would leave them to their fate and continue to trade with their American kinsfolk. Our interests, traditions and inclinations all dictate that course to us." Nor is the American heart irresponsive to such cordial sentiments. This feeling has been long growing, and in the hour of our recent need, when the proposition was made to Great Britain to enter into a combination to constrain us in our effort for the redemption of Cuba, the reply of the mother country was not only a positive refusal to enter into such com bination, but the assurance of her active resistance to it if it should be attempted. But one danger threatens our international amity, and that is what seems the unwise resistance of the British ministry to American completion and control of the Isthmian Canal, and this, we have every reason to trust will be avoided. Not the navigation laws of pre-revolutionary times, not the stamp act, not the Boston port bill, did so much embitter the masses of the American people as would any meas ure of Great Britain which would defeat the completion of the canal. 1650 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS Besides, it is certainly true that in the great conflicts for the control of the Pacific which seem inevitable, the canal under our control would be as serviceable to Great Britain as to America. That it will for a time give an advantage to American over English and all commerce is indis putable. It is, however, a national necessity. The completion of the canal will save ten thousand miles in distance, and fifty days' time by steamer between New York and San Francisco. It will subtract the entire width of the Pacific from a voyage over tha distance now to be traversed by ship from one of our Atlantic ports. It will, as well said, "project the Pacific into the heart of the continent." It will bring- the western seacoast of South America in a straight line with our Atlantic ports. Of course, the advantage to the Southern States will be particu- larly great. New Orleans in its exports having recently surpassed Boston and Philadelphia, is now second only to New York, and will be 713 miles nearer to the canal than is the great metropolis. The coal and iron of Alabama and Tennessee, the cotton product and manufac- tures of all the Southland will thus find cheap and swift access to the commerce of the Pacific. It is far better for Great Britain to lose part of the commerce of that ocean than to lose it all, and with this she is threatened, unless the Anglo-Saxon peoples make common cause. I am one of those who believe that the constitutions of England, of the United States, and of every American state in the vital principles of government which they per- petuate, make it inevitable that Great Britain and America must finally stand and prevail together, or perish together in the effort to preserve civil and religious liberty on earth. These constitutions are vitalized by the ancient laws of "that land of old and great renown, where free- dom broadens slowly down from precedent to precedent." The immor- tal principles of the Bill of Rights, of the Petition of Rights and of Magna Charta, all glow with undying warmth and unfading lustre in the American constitutions. They arc but the expression of principles which make political and individual freedom consist with orderly prog- ress. They took their origin as early as the fifth century after Christ, in the homes of the Angles, the sires of our common race, amid the sands and heather of those hyperborean shores chafed by the1 icy waters which ' encompassed the ultima thule of the Romans. What do not Americans owe to the laws, to the literature, to the love of liberty of the mother country' I know not what others may think, but when, time and again, I have beheld threatened combinations of the continental powers against her, when I have seen her people, seemingly all isolated and unfriended, with all the courage of their heroic past quietly buckling on their armor, if need be, to fight the world, it has thrilled me with a fervor and a . passion that made me know they were irideed my brethren. Once, when British mariners, borne down by shot and shell from Chinese batteries, were sinking in the turbid flood, it was a Georgian, the son of a trustee of this university, the noble Josiah Tattnall, who, though commanding a neutral fleet, sped swiftly to the rescue. "Blood is thicker than water," the old hero exclaimed, and though for long years the giant trees of Banaventure have waved their funereal mosses above his grave, this sentiment survives to animate millions of our common race. And what part shall the trained mentality and genuine patriotism : ,; : . ::: ] :::; \ :|i j :;::: | \iiiii .! :: :| ::: :;; ; |; l : : i: :|:| :::;! : ;|! s::i '